


Journey to a New World

by otherrealmwriter



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 42,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27013267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otherrealmwriter/pseuds/otherrealmwriter
Summary: As part of an expedition to help find minerals Irk needs, Tak, Tenn, Skoodge, Zim and the Tallest head to Earth to search for them. Tak, leaving the group she was with searches for adventure while Dib wants to know more about the Invaders to his home, causing tensions between the two groups, the humans and the Irkens. Eventual DATR
Relationships: Dib/Tak (Invader Zim)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

I do not own Invader Zim okay? Now I know I should be working on updating my other fics besides starting a new one but I've had this idea brewing in my head for a long time after watching a "Savages" from Pocahontas Video on Youtube while looking for ideas for a DATR fic. (Hey it's my OTP and there is not very many fics in this fandom.) And before you get the idea that this is just Pochontas with humans for the natives and Irkens and the English, boy howdy, it's just the inspiration so some thing will be a little different. So anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

A crisis was rising on Irk. Despite having one of the biggest Empires in the galaxy, Materials were running low. Iron Oxide, often used to help support some of the structures on the other planets were running low. The demand for platinum was rising and the radioactive elements like plutonium and uranium that powered some of the most feared weaponry were nearly depleted after the conquests. Irkens knew they were running the risk of not having enough supplies to fight off some of their worst enemies. Vort, while conquered and a military research prison was threatening to revolt. Meekrob, who had a very powerful empire of their own, was to be Invaded but after Tenn's base was destroyed and position compromised, she was taken back to Irk with much shame. Invaders were not to be exposed and she was. The Tallest had taken pity on her as they did not want a fine Invader to be killed by a race so inferior to the Irkens because they didn't have bodies, so they took her back to Irk and left the planet alone, thinking that Meekrob would be grateful and leave their Empire alone. This had proved not to be the case and the calls for war were rising.

"We need to find somewhere else, somewhere with the massive amount of materials we will need sustain what war is on the horizon." Red panicked as he looked out into space and sighed.

"Somewhere far away too." Purple said panicked waving a piece of paper around.

"Why far away?" Red asked.

"You haven't seen the news have you?" Purple said as pieces of the paper flew all over the room.

"You know I don't watch INN, after they called lasers stupid and reported falsely on our conquests." Red said. "Should never have let the people have control of the news..." he mumbled.

"Well you can read for yourself!" Purple said throwing the newspaper to Red.

" 'Tallest Approval rating at new low, only 62%'" Okay, that means that most of Irk likes us.

"But only 62%! And it's been going down since we brought Tenn back." Purple said.

"I thought Irk would like that one. I mean we saved one of our best Invaders." Red said.

"Well the control brains don't." Purple said.

"Yeah, you're right on that one." Red said. "But there isn't much to worry about. Besides, they probably interviewed conquered people on planets outside Irk, you know how the media will warp things." However, when Red bent down to pick up the papers that Purple has thrown all over the chambers, he saw a headline that was more disturbing to him than any fallible poll used to make them look bad. " 'Meekrob Sending Supplies to Vortian Rebels'" Red read to himself. "This isn't good." Red said.

"So finally you see sense." Purple said. "Now how do we start executing the people who are talking smack on us?"

"Talking smack?" Red asked at his co-Tallest's unique choice of words. "Forget about that, we've got a much bigger problem. Meekrob is supplying Vort with their weaponry to overthrow us. And who designed most of our equipment?"

"Vort." Purple said.

"War is coming and we need supplies. You know what we are running low on right?"

"Platinum, Iron Oxide and Plutonium for one." Purple said.

"Yeah and some others. Stuff we need to actually fight a war against our biggest rival empire and the people who designed most of our technology and know how to exploit it. Why Spork thought giving Vort that job was beyond me. But that's in the past. I've looked over some old observation from the Solus system. There are a few planets, totally uninhabited, or mostly inhabited with brain-dead monkeys that are rich in these elements."

"We go there, load up on it and bring it back." Purple said. "But you and I can't do it alone."

"Oh that is where I am getting a crew of some of our best but disgraced Invaders." Red said.

"Why disgraced?" Purple asked.

"Well, this mission will be dangerous. Who knows how violent those brain dead monkeys can be. I mean look at Blorch! So this will be their redemption if they live. If they are killed, no loss." Red said.

"Okay, so who do you have in mind?" Purple asked.

"So far I have Skoodge, Tenn, Tak and..." Red started as he heard the door to the Tallest's chambers be kicked down by the one Irken who had nearly as much influence as they did, Sizz-lorr.

"You going on a deadly mission?" Sizz-lorr asked.

"Who told you?" Purple asked.

"You guys butt dialed me somehow. I was looking to cuss you for giving me Zim to be a food service drone-"

"Zim is no mere food service drone! I am an Invader! Why did you stop me from leaving for the Great Assigning!" Zim said flailing as Sizz-lorr held him away so he wouldn't be kicked or punched.

"You missed some great nachos." Purple said.

"Yeah whatever. But take this fool with you. Hopefully he'll be killed too. I don't care about your two's motives on it, I just want to keep my business running. It's not just Irkens who love it." Sizz-lorr said as he left, throwing Zim at the feet of the Tallest.

"And I guess Zim." Red sighed. "Hopefully you will die honorably in the line of duty." He said as Zim stood up and saluted.

"Yes my Tallest!" Zim saluted. "Wait what?"

"Never mind, we have to get the ship together." Red said as he began to call out to the Armada to make the arrangements and summon the disgraced Invaders.

Meanwhile, lightyears away, Dib sat in the waiting room of the dentist office with his sister, playing with his smart phone trying to see if he could use the new app he had programmed to pick up interstellar communications. He had been using old satellite dishes for years and had gotten some signals, but nothing that made sense. And designing this showed his father that he had some skills outside the 'para-science' as he called it and took it as a sign he was growing out of that phase and once he had completed college that he could join him in Membrane labs. A fate worse than death in Dib's eyes.

"What's the new app you got there?" Gretchen asked from behind the receptionist desk. Her father was the dentist and had just finished her braces before senior year began. As part of finishing her course requirements, she had gotten a job for co-op that filled in some of her missing credits. The braces had been on for nearly 7 years but had done a good job. She looked normal, even slightly pretty and puberty had been generous with her. She had been junior class prom queen the year before. She had asked Dib to go with her and so his father wouldn't yell at him for being so obsessed with the paranormal he missed what was called "proper socialization milestones" he reluctantly agreed. It wasn't completely horrible and even though he was with who was elected queen, he still ended up in the punch bowl. Nothing else happened that night between them, as he had stated before they even showed up together that they were going as friends and nothing more. After that night they had been friendly with each other, with Gretchen sometimes hinting she wanted more than just to be friends but Dib couldn't see her more than that.

"Just something to pick up on interstellar communications" Dib said. "I can listen to aliens communicate in space from my phone and no one will know the difference."

"Interesting." Gretchen never really was as passionate on the paranormal as he was but she did like hearing his theories. "Why didn't you get a co-op job with your dad like I did mine?" She asked with genuine curiosity. "I mean as well known as he is in science, you'd be able to knock out a few classes."

"Trust me, if you ever had to work with the man, getting picked last in gym is so much more tolerable." Dib said.

"Whiner." Gaz said looking up from her GameSlave III

Dib rolled his eyes and looked over at Gretchen. "So, is it fun having this job?" He asked, trying to be friendly with Gretchen.

"Oh yeah." She smiled, now the braces were removed she wore her smile proudly. "I'm thinking of going either to dental school next fall or going into modeling. I've had quite a few offers but I want to at least finish my diploma first before I do anything."

"Well whatever you will do, you'll do great at it." Dib said. "I think I got it!" He said as he was about to put his headphones in.

"Call him back!" Gretchen's father said.

"Oh, looks like it's your turn Dib; Dad's ready now." Gretchen said as Dib got up, put his earbuds in and lay back on the dentist's chair. He wasn't obsessive with keeping his teeth clean but he did brush somewhat regularly, even if the high amount of coffee and energy drinks he drank weren't exactly the best for your teeth, but there was never much of a problem before. Just going in for a cleaning was never a pleasant experience.

"Okay, you're just here for your yearly check up, so open wide. I don't mind if you listen to your music while I work, just don't bite down or sing along." Gretchen's father said as Dib rolled his eyes and began to listen to the communications as they came in.

"Okay, off we will disembark for Solus. We'll find what we need there and you brave Invaders will be honored more than anyone else in Irk's history as being the ones who supplied what we need to save us all!" He heard over his app once it was focused.

Did I just hear what I thought I did? Solus? Is that what they call our sun? Or am I over thinking it? I mean I did once catch a guy shooting skip on his CB trying to order pizza on channel 9... and thought that was aliens... no wonder Dad didn't take me seriously. Dib thought as he listened on.

"We will take that solar system and take their elements and leave those monkeys with nothing. Gaia, Earth whatever you call it you fools will be Irk's!" Purple said over the transmission.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Dib yelled.

"Whiner!" He heard Gaz yell from the waiting room.

"Well if you wouldn't drink so many energy drinks and coffee, then you wouldn't have a cavity there young man." Gretchen's father said. "I swear kids these days don't take good enough care of their teeth."

"Not that, just- what do you mean I have a cavity?" Dib asked. Well if I have one, god knows what he'll find in Gaz's mouth. She lives off nothing but soda.

"Not a big one, it's just starting and we can seal it quick here in the office. Now lay back while I get the filling ready." Gretchen's dad said.

"Fine." Dib sighed. "You won't tell my dad will you?"

"Well you turned 18 recently so legally I can't." Gretchen's dad winked, knowing what it was like to be a young adult and wanting some freedom. "Only if you will promise me to brush after every energy drink. It'll at least try to cut down on the damage done."

"Fine." Dib said.

"Good, now let's begin." He said as Dib was replaying the recording he captured over and over. Was this a sign of an alien Invasion or just a case of mistaken identity?

So how was this? Good? Bad? Short? Let me know in a review if you like the start to this concept and yes I know there's been no Dib and Tak interaction yet but this is chapter one for god's sake! This is a multichapter fic after all! I hope you like my little headcannon bit about Gretchen there. I wanted her to at least get a break by the time she was done with her braces... Anyway remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Invader Zim okay? I am surprised to see that people like this idea as much as I do. But you guys don't want that, you want more of the fic. So enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Red looked down at his notes at what he was going to need to go on this long voyage. "Let's see, food, sodas, excavation equipment, surveying tools, analytical supplies, tents, posh portable station." Red said as he wrote down the supplies he was ordering onto the ship.

"My Tallest! You need any help! I happened to be a very good Invader!" Zim said as he jumped on Red, causing him to drop the notepad and look around.

"And I will need to get some tape. To bind you up and store you in the hold." Red moaned.

"Are you sure we can't take some of this out and put in more snacks?" Purple asked.

"I told you, we need all this stuff! If we are going to get all that place has to offer, we need a lot of these tools and we cannot leave them behind. You know how far away we will be from any supply depot?" Red yelled.

Meanwhile, Tak had gotten off the ship that had picked her up from planet Dirt. She looked around, confused. Her assignment on Dirt was just until she could retake the Invader Test. However, she knew the assignment was futile. The planet's name was Dirt and described it well. No matter what was done, that planet was going to be a filthy pile that would never come clean. Her supervisors had not been pleased with her work. Tak was not going to put her full effort in something that she was just forced into because of circumstances beyond her control. This time you've done it Tak. She thought to herself as she was prodded along by two guards who had picked her up. You had told the superiors that those burned on stains were never coming up and you half assed it but they would not take no for an answer She thought as she was shoved to a door that was labeled "Tallest Throne Room" She looked up and gulped. This couldn't be good. Perhaps the supervisors had enough of her attitude.

"Come in!" Red said as the doors opened and she was thrown unceremoniously on the ground in front of them.

"Thanks a lot assholes." She said as she got up, dusting herself off, looking back at the guards.

"What did you call us?" Purple asked.

"Nothing My Tallest." Tak said. "Just commenting on how rude some of the guards can be is all."

"You're probably wondering why you are here in front of the Almighty Tallests, are you not?" Red said look at Tak. She couldn't read his expression but knew that it was not likely that anything was going to be good coming from this.

"Yes, I will say it is quite a surprise from my original duties." Tak said looking around, trying not to be too disrespectful. On Dirt if she insulted one of the supervisors, she usually got yelled at and denied waffles for a night. The Tallest, could throw her out an airlock and if there was one thing she did not want to happen, it was that. At least on Dirt she could use the spare parts to build a means of escape and get away. She was smart enough to make it without the Empire if she wanted to, and was about to attempt it when the call came in for the guards to pick her up and take her in front of the Tallest.

"Well, you see Tak, we are planning a mission to a very far planet on the complete other side of the galaxy, lightyears away from Irk. It is dangerous. Very dangerous. It's an uncharted area no one has ever explored before and we will only be living with what we can bring and make from the planet's natural resources. It's believed this planet has everything that Irk has been lacking in recent times. Our records show you were an excellent cadent in the Academy and had the top grades and your failure to pass the Invader test was only due to mechanical failure." Red explained.

"Yeah. It wasn't my fault and those Brains wouldn't let me take the test anyway!" Tak pleaded.

"You have to wait like the rest of the classes. The fact you were given the assignment on Dirt was to show that." Purple stated coming back from the cargo hold of the ship they were packing. Well I got him bound up and talked him into thinking that it was part of some special operations test, so what'd I miss?"

"Nothing, just explaining the mission we have to Tak here." Red said. "If we are successful, you will be promoted to full Invader, no test needed. We have your fellow classmate Tenn on board with us for this and you two will be given to choice on assignments next Operation Impeding Doom."

"Really? Tenn's here too?" Tak asked. She had recalled that Tenn was a very hard worker in the academy and one of the few cadets she could actually get along with. It was more than 'Female Invaders have to stick together' kind of respect. Both respected each other's skills. Tak was great at fighting and Tenn was great at planning. Together they would be unstoppable. However, Tenn passed the test and Tak got stuck with a job on Dirt and they never spoke again after that. "I thought she was on Meekrob."

"Well let's just say things happened to change her mission." Purple said, not wanting to give the whole story of Tenn's disgrace to Tak.

"So you two won't be alone and you both can work together to help us out. What do you say?" Red said holding his claw out to Tak

"I accept the offer." Tak said. Normally she would have thought longer about it, but this was her one chance to get off Dirt before having to wait 70 years and retake the Invader tests all over again. Also, the Tallests were one for having you give them an answer to their offers right then and there. You could not think too long when they offered you something.

"Good news!" Purple said. "Now we have Tenn cabining with you on the journey so if you two get friendly maybe you could let me know about it…. Hee…. Hee…."

"Gross." Tak said. "What's his problem?" She asked turning to Red who looked just as embarrassed as she did.

"He's found some of the more uncouth literature from some of the Invaded planets and he likes it a little too much and thinks it would be better with Irken girls than Vortians." Red explained.

"Hey! It's art not smut!" Purple said indignantly.

"I see." Tak nodded.

"Well the ship's over there," Red said pointing to the bridge that led to cruiser that was about the size of a cargo carrier, nowhere anywhere near the size of the Massive but did have cramped quarters for crew members. "Go settle in, catch up with Tenn, whatever."

Tak nodded and headed down the bridge to find the quarters that Red was talking about. Yes, it was certainly an interesting prospect to find out what Tenn had been up to, and the change in assignment did send some sort of warning off in Tak's mind. Tenn would be skilled enough to get a planet conquered, even if she didn't do so well on the fighting. Something had to have happened. Seeing the room that Red was talking about, she knocked on the door. "Can I come in?" She asked.

"Tak?" Tenn asked as she came to the door. "You're here too? Last I heard you were sent to Dirt."

"Yeah and you to Meekrob." Tak said. "How come you're here?"

"Long story involving a mixed up package, malfunctioning SIR units and a failed mission." Tenn said.

"You failed your mission?" Tak asked. That was not something she had known Tenn to do.

"Well can't properly Invade without a base now can I?" Tenn said. "I was exposed and the Tallest saved me." She said as she sat on her bunk. "That didn't go over well back home on Irk, so I've been an outcast ever since. They gave me a spot on this mission and I took it. Anything to get away from the idiots who think I am a screw up."

"I know what you mean. The door was stuck when I went to take my test and the Control Brains wouldn't let me retake it until the next test in 70 years and they threw me on Dirt."

"Quite an insult." Tenn nodded. "I remember you were one of the best. Well, at least this way we can get a second chance on this mission."

"If all goes well that is." Tak said.

"What do you mean?" Tenn said looking at Tak with concern.

"I doubt it will. The Tallest don't give people like us second chances like this unless there was a good chance they'll die in the process. I think that might be the case. And Red himself told me it was on the literal other side of the galaxy. I suspect it's dangerous. Highly dangerous." Tak said pacing in the small cabin.

"Maybe so, but is dying on something like this worse than living out the rest of our lives with our disgraces on whatever planet we're stuck on." Tenn said as she looked out of the porthole window and into the stars beyond.

Dib looked longingly at the new caramel ice cream burrito at the gas station as he headed home from the dentist's office. Gretchen's father had done the best he could to make sure the filling was done painlessly but they could only do so much. Somehow Gaz had not gotten a single cavity even though Dib was certain she lived off Poop Cola and hardly ever brushed but she had just gotten through with a routine cleaning and nothing else. "Come on, you aren't supposed to have those. Too sticky and too cold." Gaz said as she grabbed her older brother's hand and dragged him back to the house. "We got the rest of the day off Skool, so let's enjoy it. I've got a few new levels to unlock."

"Fine." Dib said kind of muffled. His mouth was still a little numb from getting the filling done. He headed to his room to upload his recording to the Swollen Eyeball network and see what they could make of it. They had liked his idea of the app he had made and if he could prove it would pick up something the Swollen Eyeball would have it installed on every member's phones so they could pick up various signals from space as well. Dib had finished the upload when Darkbooty had paged him.

"Agent Mothman, I see you uploaded your latest file from your app. I trust it isn't some guy trying to order a pizza on channel 9 of the CB right?" Agent Darkbooty said on the screen.

"Ha ha ha very funny." Dib said. "No this is serious-OW!"

"What's the matter?" Darkbooty said. "You sound kind of muffled there."

"Sorry. Had a tooth filling done. But no, this is different. It's an actual alien recording and it sounds like they may be coming our way. I picked it up while waiting to see the dentist." Dib explained as he wiped some saliva from the side of his mouth.

"Ah yes. We will study this. You say you got it with the app you made? Impressive Agent Mothman." Darkbooty said.

"Well I figure you guys would appreciate what it can do. Not like my dad would care. I mean he's proud of the programming part but not much else. He would doubt if it is real or not." Dib sighed.

"Yes, that can be depressing but don't give up. You're highly intelligent and perceptive. Maybe a little overzealous at times, but you're still young. Let me and Tuna Ghost look over this and we will report back what we find. And give your little girlfriend Gretchen a hello from me." Agent Darkbooty said.

"Gretchen! Oh yeah last prom. That went about as well as could be expected. Sorry I missed that ghost hunt but I couldn't let her down and didn't want my dad thinking something was wrong and sending me to a therapist again. She was nice to me at least." Dib said. "And why do you care?"

"Just seemed like a sweet young lady is all. You're growing up Mothman, so forgive me if I see it as cute. You are like a little son to me in some ways." Darkbooty said.

"She's not my type anyway. She's a great friend but I could never see her like that." Dib said. "I want adventure and to see what hasn't been seen!" Dib began.

"I was young once too. I know exactly how you feel. Now rest up and I'll report back what we find." Darkbooty said.

"Thanks." Dib said as he lay back down and sipped some water. "This still hurts….."

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I don't know if this will get to be as long as my other DATR fic Taboo, but we will see, I didn't think that one would get so long either but there it went. I'm looking for ideas for one shots and other stories with this pairing so if you have some, feel free to PM me. But I am sure you don't want more of that, so remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now

Otherrealmwriter

Aka

Realm


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Invader Zim okay? I'm glad to see so many people like this story and yes, there needs to be so much more DATR out there in the fandom. I might try making a sequel to Taboo, once again only if there is demand. I kind of flopped on my last sequels... I also encourage you readers out there who love this pairing, take a stab at it on your own. But enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Tak looked up at the ceiling of the cabin she shared with Tenn thinking on their discussion. Yeah if there was one thing she found herself wishing for, other than to kill Zim, was that death would take her quickly. She felt like she was just rotting away on that planet and her skills were not being put to good use at all. Turning, she looked out the porthole and sighed. Space could be beautiful but with how things were going, she didn't know what to think.

"Who knows what kind of beings we'll meet there." Tenn said as she turned over on her bunk.

"Hopefully they're intelligent. Getting tired of most of these Irken morons." She sighed.

"Hey!" Tenn said indignantly sitting up.

"Not you." Tak said.

"That's better." Tenn said. "Now relax."

"Yeah." Tak said as she turned over on her bunk closing her eyes.

Back on Earth, Dib was laying in his bed, staring out at the Cosmos, like he usually did wondering what was out there and what he picked up. Darkbooty and Tuna Ghost did not get back to him yet, so he didn't have a report on what they thought it was. They had more access to the Swollen Eyeball's files than he did. He would not gain access to those until he had graduated high school, something that Dib thought rather arbitrary in the first place. He had proven time and time again his knowledge and intellect and skill were much higher than that level but the leaders would not make a special case for him. He pulled out his telescope and looked around for a place not too far away but in the country to get a better view of the stars. One of the biggest downsides of living in the city was the light pollution unless there was a blackout. When an explosion at his father's lab had taken out the power grid for 3 days when he was 13, he had some of the best stargazing in his life while Gaz was looting every remote for batteries for her Gameslave at that time. She had then made some solar powered chargers for her devices since then, something that Professor Membrane was proud of and within 6 months, Membrane Labs marketed something much based on her design.

Finding a clearing about 15 miles away, Dib slid down the anchor line of the power line to the ground for the house using his hair and headed into the garage where he had kept his dirt bike. It was something he had bought from a classmate for cheap and repaired himself but it was great for heading into the country to go into areas that a car just couldn't do and walking would take too long. On hunts for creatures like Bigfoot or ghost hunts in abandoned houses in rural areas, this made a perfect vehicle.

"Where you going?" Gaz said as she opened the door to the garage, heading to her car.

"Where are you?" Dib asked.

"The Midnight Opening of Vampire Piggy Hunter 4. I paid extra for the special collector's pack and I hope it does not disappoint." Gaz said as she walked past her brother. "I spilled, now you."

"The woods. Want to do some stargazing in a clearing I found." He said as she started up the dirt bike.

"You know you shouldn't be riding that thing on the city streets?" Gaz said.

"No one cares." Dib said rolling his eyes. "You know how many cops I have driven right past on this thing?" He said as he secured his telescope and some supplies on the back cargo hold as the engine revved.

"Whatever. I suggest you don't let dad find out you left this late on a school night." Gaz said. "It's your senior year. You're supposed to be getting serious now. No more of this 'para-science'" She said in an imitation of her father.

"Oh ha ha very funny." Dib said dryly. "See you at school tomorrow! Don't wait up." He waved as he headed out of the garage and to the clearing in the woods.

"Whatever. Just if you come in after me don't be noisy." Gaz said as she shut the door on her car.

If he was going to see something that might give him a clue on what that transmission was, he was going to have to go to a spot away from the city and a place where he could be alone. He wasn't worried about getting accepted into college because he knew that even without his father's influence, his grades alone stood out among the rest. It wasn't like school offered a challenge or anything, something he had hoped college would give him, if nothing else, it would give him a break from being picked on by the usual bullies in his mind. Now when Darkbooty said he needed to get "serious" he meant pick a paranormal specialty. There were many types, cryptozoology, astrobiology, parapsychology, metaphysics, and he didn't want Dib to be a paranormal jack of all trades. From whatever field he wanted to specialize, Darkbooty would then guide him on what to major in to get Professor Membrane to stop nagging him. Both could agree that the man was a brilliant scientist, but rather limited in his thoughts.

It was about a 45 minute drive from the city to the clearing Dib had mapped out and once he had approached the clearing, he got out his equipment and looked at the recording on his phone where it had come from and pointed his telescope to look at it. "Now then, let's see what we can see..." He said as he placed his eye to the lense and looked out.

"Meal time. All of you chosen slobs, head to the mess hall now!" Red said over the intercom as Tenn shook Tak up.

"Huh? What? Huh?" Tak said as she looked around.

"Didn't you hear? Meal time." Tenn said.

"Fine." Tak said as she jumped out of her bunk and followed Tenn. It was nice having a familiar face on this voyage but she could never get used to how the Tallest were acting. As they headed to the Mess Hall, Tak tapped Tenn on the shoulder.

"What is it?" Tenn asked Tak.

"Why are the Tallest themselves on this mission? I've been wondering about that since they told me I was to be here." Tak asked.

"I don't know. I just want the chance to redeem my name. I mean I was this close" Tenn said holding her finger and her thumb a millimeter apart "to having Meekrob in our possession. Then an order gets screwed up, I get malfunctioning SIRS that ruin my base and I'm exposed and fighting for my life. The Tallest help me and when I am back on Irk, suddenly I'M the bad guy. Like yeah, I was just supposed to take that shit and ruin our chances with Meekrob even more. If I left there was still a chance one day I could go back and finish the job."

"How?" Tak asked. She knew Tenn was smart but had some naive moments.

"Meekrob drops their guard, thinking we left them for good." Tenn suggested.

"Really? I mean this is Meekrob we are talking about." Tak said.

Tenn paused as they reached the Mess Hall. "You got a point there. I guess that one mixed up shipment ruined a lot for Irk."

"But you didn't get the shipment mixed up." Tak said as they entered the cafeteria to find it rather empty with a few food service drones behind the counter and two other Irkens in there, both male.

"Oh hello!" The short stalky one said looking over with a friendly wave. "Didn't know you two would be here. Got some real muscle now!"

"Skoodge!" Tenn said as she remembered him from the Great Assigning. "Why are you here? I thought you did conquer Blorch."

"Yeah but I was the first to conquer a planet and the Tallest didn't like that." Skoodge said.

"I thought the Almighty Tallest killed you." Tenn said worried. "I saw the recording of the Organic Sweep and you were shot out of the cannon!"

"Yeah, I'm all better now. The Tallest said if this mission is successful my honor would be restored." Skoodge said.

"Who is that with you in the straight jacket?" Tak asked, narrowing her eyes at the one very Irken she had hoped to never, ever, ever see again.

"Well that is-" Skoodge began but Zim cut him off.

"I am Zim! I am here to prove my worth as an Elite to the Almighty Tallest by enduring these special ops tests before we even get to our final destination! They promised to make me a nice base on Solus if I do this." Zim yelled from his straightjacket.

"They couldn't muzzle him too?" Tenn said rolling her eyes.

"WHY YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Tak yelled as she jumped over to Zim, grabbing him and pushing him onto the floor and punching his face in. "You are the reason I couldn't take my Invader test! You are the reason I was disgraced to Dirt anyway and you will pay!" Tak said as a claw grabbed her from behind and pulled her up.

"See I told you this might happen." Red said.

"No you didn't" Purple said.

"Yes I did!" Red said as he sighed in futility. His co-Tallest was an idiot and he was not about to waste time arguing a point with him. "Tak get off Zim! We have him isolated away so he won't bother you. We thought that meal times could be different, but guess not. Meh, gives us a reason to just shove Zim a tray and let it be done."

"Well no disrespect intended, My Tallest," Tak said, words bitter in her mouth, "But why is HE here? I thought he was sent to Foodcourtia to be banished."

"Sizz-lorr had enough of him." Red said. He motioned for Tak to come closer to him. Bending down he whispered to her, "We're hoping he just dies. We told him he'd be made an elite Invader if he lived and we're putting him through all these tests before we get there to make sure, but we just want him out of everyone's antenna." Seeing how Tak reacted to the comment he tried to cover up. "We don't think YOU will die on this trip. You Tenn and Skoodge are too good for that. No need for you to worry."

"I think I will just get some snacks." Tak said as she walked away from Red.

"I saved you some Pepperoni balls! These things are delicious with this dip!" Tenn said as she held a tray up for Tak. "Join me over here!"

"Fine." Tak said as she sat down next to Tenn. She bit down on the pepperoni ball. It was decent enough for the type of food that would be served on an expedition. She had expected some dried waffle biscuits that would have to last them until they had finished the mission.

"Mind if I sit here guys?" Skoodge said as he sat down across from Tenn.

"Free mess hall." Tak said

"I can't wait to see what kind of snacks they have on this new world they are wanting us to explore." Skoodge said. "I hope it's as good as ours."

"Don't know. Haven't heard many reports from this part of the galaxy." Tenn said earnestly.

"Meh one alien race is like another. And it's not like we are trying to Invade. We're just going to see what they have and that be that." Tak said.

"Hey guys, look what hit the ship!" Purple said as he came in holding a golden disk. "It was on this spacecraft that was just floating about. It has this record thingy on it I pulled off." Purple looked around. "I know we had a player in here somewhere." Purple said as he floated over to a tall box and stuck it in a slot. Classical music and greetings in various languages started playing.

"Hello from the children of Earth..." Red said. "Looks like there was a few other things to look over too. Pull it out, I'll study this, this is where we are heading anyway."

Tak looked over. If there was one thing she was pretty good at, it was decoding messages. "My Tallest, wait up!" She yelled.

"Yes Tak?" Red said.

"Need some help?" Tak said.

"Might." He nodded. "We'll find out more from these children of Earth and why they sent this into space..."

Dib sighed and looked at the night sky. It was starting to cloud up, meaning his night was going to be cut short. However he adjusted his telescope to one of his favorite sights to follow, the old Voyager 1 probe. He knew about the golden record that was designed to attempt to communicate to aliens. While it just floated there, it was like a sign that some people in high places didn't completely dismiss the idea of aliens. He looked up only to find it gone. "It can't be..." Dib checked the location on the telescope's coordinate system. "Yeah, that's where it should be..." Looking at his watch, he saw it was 1 in the morning, but this could not wait. He quickly paged Darkbooty.

"What is it Mothman? You do know what time it is and we haven't found much." Darkbooty said slightly annoyed.

"It's gone! Voyager 1 is just gone!" Dib said

"No way, let me check." Darkbooty said. He stepped away from the screen for a few minutes and looked through his own telescope and data he could retrieve as a lowly NASA janitor. "Well now... This is important... I'll tell you what I find from NASA as soon as I can."

"You do that. This could mean something big." Dib said as he looked up at the clouding night sky as rain began to fall.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Like the real world references I worked into this one? It's really interesting when you research the Golden record on Voyager 1 and it is officially in interstellar space now, so that would be a good marker to show their progress. And of course, Dib and the Swollen Eyeball would be very interested in it. But enough of that, remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Invader Zim okay? I'm so glad to see people like this fic so much, especially since it is a DATR fic of mine and it is so underrepresented in the fandom. In fact if you read this and have your own idea, try it. But enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Dib got home at about 2 am that night, a time what would not result with his father's floating tele-screen lecturing him about how the paranormal was something he need not worry about and he was just wasting his time with it all and as brilliant a young man as he was, he needed to focus on "REAL SCIENCE". No matter what Dib had said about certain ideas he thought of as scientific fact now were once dismissed as the paranormal was today and that gorillas were once thought like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster and that the studying the paranormal was as scientific as what his father did, it was dismissed. He took off his wet trench coat and hung it up, hoping that the rain would pass before he got up in the morning. While old enough to drive now, he did not like driving in the rain and preferred to walk when he could. Most of the paranormal field work he loved to do was often on foot. As he walked past Gaz's room quietly, he looked around opened the door and lied down on his bed.

He tried to go to sleep, but he just couldn't. When insomnia hit him before, he found that laying on his side or adjusting the blankets into a burrito roll around him had helped before but this night was different. He had seen it himself, Voyager 1 just disappearing. Something had gotten it. There was no other explanation. If it had exploded, there would have been something there to show the failure of the equipment. If it stopped being powered, it would just float along randomly and be pulled into orbit of something. But it just seemed to disappear. While he knew better than to seek his father's advice when something weird happened, he knew Darkbooty would be interested in his observations. This idea allowed him to fall into a sort of sleep.

On the ship, Tak looked at the map on the golden record with intense intrigue. Looking at the lower left corner she saw a map like something she had seen before in her travels. It was often seen at interstellar rest stops to show how far that particular stop was from various other solar systems near it. "I think I got what this is!" Tak said.

"What is it?" Red asked looking over at Tak.

"This is a pulsar map. The center is the place it came from. Do you have the ship you got it from?" Tak said.

"Here." Red said as he opened a door and showed Tak the Voyager satellite.

"Hmmmmmm..." She said looking at the technology. It was certainly good enough to get out of a planet's atmosphere and gravitational pull, defiantly for surveillance style, but had no military intent obviously. No military would send out a welcome if they were trying to attack or see who would attack them. "Wherever it came from, is defiantly way behind Irk in it's technological prowess. I mean they're good enough to leave, but not as backwards as Blorch. They're open to new peoples coming to them if they sent this record out but they have not made contact with other races enough to establish an effective language." Tak said.

"What makes you think that?" Purple said.

"Well, the different languages are playing on this thing, but they are all the same length before they go to the next one, so I'm assuming it's different languages on the planet. Yet wherever it was launched from speaks that first one." Tak said.

"Yeah? Why?" Purple said as Red looked at him annoyed.

"Because you go with what you know first you idiot!" Red said. "Think about it, when we post a sign or something official in the Empire, what language is first?"

"Irken." Purple said.

"Exactly." Red said. "Just go enjoy the snack bar." He said dismissing his co-Tallest. "One of the disadvantages of ruling by height."

"So I'm not the only one who thinks he's an idiot." Tak said.

"Nope." Red sighed. "Maybe I can push him off a cliff. But from that what can you surmise?"

"That we're close. I'll have to do some figuring but I can guess roughly, 13 billion to 17 billion miles from here." Tak said.

"I'll go tell the crew to get ready for landing soon. Not even a fraction of a light year from this new planet. Soon all it's resources and precious metals and beings will belong to Irk!" Red said. "See what else you can tell us from that antiquated piece of crap Tak. I'm so glad we chose to bring you. Knowing Zim or Skoodge, we'd find our way back to Foodcourtia several times." Red said, so excited he could hardly contain himself.

"What about Tenn?" She asked annoyed. While never really forming any friendships, she did want to look out for her as she was the most competent that she saw of the ones the Tallest selected and her name and fate was ruined by a mixed up shipment, nothing more, nothing less. Meekrob was nearly hers when that happened and when the Tallest decided to retrieve and regroup her, her name was ruined. A great injustice in Tak's eyes, much like her not being able to retake the test to be an Invader because of circumstances beyond her control. An equipment malfunction sent her to a janitorial squad. You only want me because I am a useful disgraced pawn who if your plans fail, you can dispose of easily. Tak scowled as she turned back to the spacecraft.

"What about her? I was under the impression you two were getting along well." Red said.

"Nothing." Tak said.

Dib had woken up suddenly to a smack to the face. "OW! GAZ!" He yelled turning to his sister.

"Shower's yours. We've got to get to school." She said simply. "You're driving. The rain picked up since the night."

"Can't we both drive?" Dib said, knowing Gaz had gotten her license recently, using his car.

"Because unless you want to ride to school on that dirt bike of yours, then you're going to have to drive. Dad won't get me a car till my senior year." Gaz said as she turned and headed out the door.

"I'm getting up." Dib said as he headed to the bathroom to get ready, thoughts of the last night in his mind. He was still rather sleepy, after only about 3 hours of sleep but he could not forget what he saw. Darkbooty was going to get what he could from NASA. No one had really kept good records of the signal so that when it did get picked up, it was highly unlikely that anything would be made of it, if it was noticed at all. But you would not make a record of gold with all that information and go through all they did if it was just a joke. Once he finished getting dressed, he put on his trench coat, poured himself a cop of dark black coffee and sighed. "The Paranormal Investigator's best friend. Caffeine." Dib said.

"I take mine in Poop Cola's newest drink." Gaz said as she pulled a Poop Cola Gamer Propellant. That plastic tab has saved me so much time."

"And yet you didn't have a cavity at all?" Dib said looking at Gaz's caffeination of choice.

"Nope." She said with an evil, prideful smirk. "Now get to the garage and warm that thing up."

"Fine." Dib said as he sat in his car, waiting for Gaz. This is the only thing Dad has really given me in years that didn't have a real science ulterior motive. He thinks internal combustion engines are too simple.

"Open the garage door up, what are you trying to do kill yourself?" Gaz said as she sat in the back seat and Dib backed out.

"I'm thinking about it right now." Dib said annoyed at his sister.

"Kill yourself on your own time." Gaz said. "I've got to be at school soon and the robotics team needs me in that battlebot competition. Ours is the only one that can actually fight like a person than rely on fucking saw blades." Gaz then turned on her laptop and turned on her program. "I've almost got this thing with AI to make corrective decisions too."

"So, still got plans for Game Design for college?" Dib asked.

"Yes." Gaz said simply.

"And Dad doesn't bitch you out for that? I mean it's not sciencey, but more artistic." Dib moaned, knowing his father was always easier on Gaz than he was on him.

"Guess being the youngest and a girl is paying off. Even the most clueless of fathers dare not upset their little princesses too much." She said knowing that was what Dib was thinking and that it would piss him off even more.

"Shut up." He said as he turned on his CD player.

"Can't you play something else?" Gaz moaned. "It's so wimpy boo fucking hoo..."

"And you listen to much the same stuff." Dib said back, knowing that Gaz was not foolish enough to beat him up while he was driving. That could kill them both.

"Nah. It's nothing the same. Disturbed and Korn aren't like AFI or Linkin Park." Gaz said.

Whatever lets you sleep at night. Dib thought. "Driver picks the tunes, passenger shuts her yap." He said as they turned onto the school's parking lot.

"Whatever." Gaz said as she put her headphones on and tuned him out.

Once they had arrived, she had gotten out, opened up her umbrella and walked down to the school where the robotics team instructor was waiting to see what she had come up with. Dib had bent down and got his backpack and headed in, rain pounding on his head. I just had to forget my umbrella at home... He moaned in his mind as he headed towards his first class, history. As he sat down and the bell for class to begin rang, he could hardly think that if handled by a different teacher in a way truer to the events as they happened and not just a teacher reciting the heavily redacted and watered down textbook word for word, this class may be interesting. In his paranormal investigations on cryptozoological phenomenon and in ghostly apparitions, history as it was was very important. When was this first seen, what was it like then, were often looked through when trying to figure out a monster's history and if there would likely be more than one of them or if a spirit would have felt wronged in some way and could not move on. The teacher had begun to start to talk about the first arrival of the English in the New World when he found his face in his book and began to fall asleep.

In his dream he could see a red space ship come closer and closer to the spot where he stargazed and an alien with a girlish but aggressive voice called out to him. He tried to call back to her when he felt the buzz of his phone in his pocket. "Huh? What?" He said looking around.

"Mr. Membrane, do I bore you? Does the genocide of the Native Americans not merit your concern?" The teacher said annoyed, tapping his foot at Dib.

"Huh? Oh." Dib said, realizing he had woken up by the phone's text and disturbed the class. "Sorry, I didn't get to sleep until very late last night." He apologized.

"Well that isn't an excuse for falling asleep in this class." Mr. Binns, a gaunt and elderly man said looking at the pointy haired teenager with an annoyed face. "In my day you'd have gotten a caning for falling asleep in class, but now you have to go to the guidance counselor's office."

Dib placed his face in his hands. "Can't you just beat me with a cane?" Having been sent there many times for his ideas going through school and going through the state's program to help seniors plan for post secondary education, he had had enough of the guidance counselor's office.

"Believe me, I'd prefer that as well, but rules are rules." He said with an annoyed voice as he handed Dib the hall pass. Seeing that he could take as long as he wanted to get there as long as the books said he had shown up, he checked the text that had woken him up.

"Mothman, I have some interesting photographs from Voyager. Due to budget cuts, the only guy working there has been there since it launched back in the 70's. All I have to do is get him a bottle of bourbon and he lets me have as much access as I want. Something took it but it's still sending back pictures. I need to talk over with with you more when you get off school. I've sent an email with the first picture. This is bigger than the Wow signal."

Reading this, Dib opened his email and saw what looked like two aliens talking. One looked to be about Gaz's height with one that appeared to be much taller than the other. "Bigger than the Wow signal indeed." He said, eyes widening at the picture.

"You know better than to look at lewd pictures on school networks." The receptionist said as Dib handed her the pass.

"I wasn't looking at that!" Dib said. "But no, I got sent here-"

"You know the drill." She said bored as Dib sat down and awaited his first lecture of the day.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I did put a few bits of math in there based off where Voyager 1 really is at the time of posting which is over 13 billion miles from Earth, but still a fraction of a light year away. And the history teacher so boring one can fall asleep, well if you're a Potterhead, you'll see where I got the name. And so you know, The Wow! signal was a strong narrow band radio signal received on August 15, 1977, by Ohio State University's Big Ear radio telescope in the United States, then used to support the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. And yes, history does play a lot in cryptozoology and ghost affairs. Just some things I've picked up over the years. But other than giving you a lesson on all the references and real world math, remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Invader Zim okay? I am pleased to see the response this is getting and hope to get it finished soon. And soon there will be interaction between Dib and Tak. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Dib sat in the guidance counselor's office looking at him with a half vapid stare. He had been here so many times it was pathetic. "So, what is it this time?" The counsler said with a genuine concern that seemed to rub Dib the wrong way.

"I fell asleep in Mr. Binn's class and he sent me down here." Dib said trying to see if Darkbooty had sent him a message yet.

"And why did you fall asleep in his class? Did you not get enough sleep?" She said as she looked deeply at Dib. He could tell she was just out of college and still had genuine concern, which was amazing because he had mostly dealt with the burned out therapists who had recently been disbarred for prescribing drugs on the side. Something the school district saw no issue with when it came to their student's guidance counselors.

"I guess you could say so." Dib said, not wanting to tell too much of what he was doing the night before.

"And why is that?" She said as she opened his file from the beginning of his senior year. "You have quite the profile here."

"I know that." He said with an angered tone of voice. I'm going to be out of here next June... Haven't picked where I want to go to college yet but I know it will be far away from this crap. He thought as she read some notes and looked towards him.

"It seems that you have told previous conselours that your father ignores you and your sister and your sister is physically aggressive towards you. Does that bother you? Does that keep you up at night?" She asked looking at his notes. "Is that why you applied to so many colleges so far from here? I mean the closest one is three hours away, the rest are on the other side of the country."

"Not necessarily. They just have the best programs in the stuff I'm interested in." Dib said.

"The University of West Virginia has a program you're interested in? More like it's an hour from Flatwoods and the same state as Point Pleasant, home of the legendary Mothman." The counselor teased as he heard "Mothman!" On his phone, causing him to jump and look at the phone.

"Bad time. In trouble at Skool again..." Dib hit as a quick reply, which Darkbooty knew to send a report in an email, not wanting Dib to get in further trouble. He regained his composure and looked at her with confusion. "I've been down this road before when I was in elementary Skool. You'll fake an interest in the paranormal, say I'm crazy and full of lies and then run off."

"Yeah, we've still no word from Dwicky," The counselor said. Dib knew he had run off with some lost Plookesians to god knows where and never heard from him again. He took the camera so Dib had no proof either, but not like someone wouldn't say it was some cult or something, even ignoring the advanced propulsion that would have been needed to fly out like they did. Having been stuck in his Dad's labs more often as he got older, hoping "real science" would become more appealing to him, he knew that the best minds were years away from finding this stuff. "But no, I grew up out there and heard all the legends." She explained, Dib noticing a faint southern draw as well.

"You sure don't seem like it." Dib said, trying to test her. One thing he had learned over the years is that people would be your friend and stab you in the back when they were done with you. Mainly when they needed a good science grade, but adults have done it as well.

"I don't let it on where I am from. It's often seen as a detraction, this accent or the fact I grew up in West Virginia. People automatically assume you're a dumb hillbilly. I came to this city to try and make it for myself and prove my talent and by coming to one of the most troubled areas in the boroughs will help me do that and put my heritage as a fun fact." She said with increasing enthusiasm and increasing accent as she explained it to him. "But seriously, why do you care about something hillbillies use in poor and honestly pathetic Scooby Doo routines to get money from tourists?" She said returning to all formalities and hints of her accent disappearing.

"How do you know there isn't something there that inspired the legends?" Dib replied back.

"Have you met the people back there? I don't think so, or else you'd see why I don't believe in those foolish things." She said.

"So just because a few hillbillies exploit the idea you dismiss it? You sound as bad as my dad." Dib said. "Dismissing ideas because he hasn't heard or even conceptualized it himself yet."

"Look Dib, I'm not that much older than you," She said. "I was one of the smartest girls in my class. I remember seeing my name all over the paper. County valedictorian Sarah Anne Marshall, I had a free ride to my doctorate even without my family's poverty. But I was cast aside when I announced my intentions. They feared I'd leave home and never come back." Dib looked at Miss Marshall with interest.

"Well you did didn't you?" Dib asked looking at her skeptically.

"Because I knew I couldn't fall into their bad habits and ways and lose everything I worked for. Besides, pay's better here." Miss Marshall added.

"But cost of living and rent is higher. And you can actually get your student loans waived by working as a therapist in West Virginia than in Manhattan." Dib said.

Miss Marshall went from caring to angry in a matter of seconds on that one. "I want to see you every day at..." she looked at Dib's schedule looking to find his free period. "4th period for 3 weeks." She said writing out a pass for the first day. "Starting today."

"But Miss Marshall," Dib pleaded, knowing his free period was when he would be able to talk to Darkbooty again about what the disappearance of Voyager meant and what it was that the spacecraft had captured.

"No buts. I think we need to coach you on what will be best for your future. We already got word that you've been accepted to many top universities, now to decide which one is best is what we will work on for you and I would recommend not going to the University of West Virginia." Miss Marshall said. "See you at 4th period sharp Mr. Membrane."

"So what do you have against your Alma Mater?" Dib said pointing at the doctorate degree on the wall.

"OUT!" She yelled. "And you bought yourself another week of mandatory sessions you smart mouth."

"Fine." Dib said rolling his eyes. He looked at the clock and knew that second period would be ending soon, so he began to head to his third period class. At least in English class, my reports can be handed in as fantastic creative assignments and I get full marks from Mrs. Ganoe. Noticing he had a few minutes before the bell to second period ending would ring, Dib headed to the bathroom to call Darkbooty and explain what happened. "Darkbooty, it's Mothman, do you have time for a quick call?"

"Yes Mothman, what is it?" Darkbooty said. "What did the school system want to punish you for this time?"

"Well I mouthed off the new counselor who apparently has issues with her home state and family and now have 4 weeks of meetings with her during my free period." Dib sighed. "So I can only go over the findings when I get home."

"That's fine. You seem to be everyone's dumping ground for their personal problems." He sighed. "But I have some interesting things to discuss when we get a chance to talk again. Now head to class, I don't need you in detention as well."

"Yes Darkbooty. Talk to you later." Dib sighed as he headed out of the boy's bathroom, nearly walking into Gretchen. "Oh sorry! Didn't see you there." He said as he headed in the opposite direction as her.

"Well we do have the same third period English class." She laughed.

"Damn Dib, the hottest girl in school has the hots for you and you won't go out with her?" Torque said as he walked by, hitting Dib in the back, nearly causing him to fall over. "Guess that means more of Gretchen for me."

"You made fun of her with the other rejects for years until she got her braces removed and puberty hit her!" Dib said. He could not simply stand by and let Gretchen be treated like an object, even if he didn't want anything romantically with her. She was a sort of friend of his, or as best he could ask for in a friend.

"So?" Torque said.

"So, that means I don't forget what people like you did to me when I was younger. It was mean and hurtful." She said catching him and helping him back up. "I also know if I wasn't as lucky with my genes that you wouldn't cast a second glance at me. Go pick up a few freshmen girls who don't know any better if looks are the only thing that matters to you." and in a motion of fury, dropped her English book by her side, causing it to slide next to Dib's dropped one.

"Whatever." Torque said. "Guess every hot girl needs a queer friend."

"Hey!" Dib yelled back.

"I don't think even if he was, that would be pertinent to this situation. Now go!" She said to him as she picked up the dropped English textbooks, handing one of the textbooks to him.

"Thanks." Dib said. "For the book and for standing up for me."

"Well it's what a decent human being would do." She said as they walked to class.

"Sit down, we have a very big day going over Paradise Lost today, what some say is the first Bible Fanfiction." Mrs. Ganoe said as Gretchen opened the textbook to find a note Dib had left for himself. "Open your books to page 394 class."

"Head out to the usual spot and see what you can tonight." Gretchen said to herself as Dib carelessly opened the textbook to the page the teacher told him.

"Mr. Potter, this means you too." The teacher said as another classmate was looking out the window. "Van Helsing can wait."

"I think I will find your usual spot Dib..." Gretchen said to herself. While having plenty of dates of her own now and a good friendship with Dib, she never got over her grade school crush on him and knew him to be very loyal and treated her well. She was determined to win his heart on more a level than friends before the school year was out.

"Approaching our final destination. Start landing procedure." Red said as he found Tak analyzing the spacecraft still.

"We're there!?" Tak asked startled.

"Yep. You can tell there's some really stupid beings there if you see all the junk they left." Red said. "Now go back to your cabin with Tenn and get ready to land. We found a good spot near a population center."

"And that's a good idea how?" Tak asked. "They never seemed to have proper contact with other life forms before. How do we know they aren't violent?"

"Well judging by this little handicraft they sent out, even if they were, it's nothing we couldn't handle." Red said, dismissing her concern.

"Fine." Tak said as she headed to her cabin and looked at Tenn.

"We're almost there?" She asked, looking kind of excited.

"Almost." Tak said.

"I can't wait. I wonder what this will be like." Tenn said.

Tak sighed and looked as the ship headed through the atmosphere and wondered what she would do if she did see the people that made this Voyager probe.

"All special exploration squad, get ready for landing. We are almost to Earth." Red said over the loud speaker.

Gretchen was looking from behind a bush she had hid herself in. If she was going to stop being friend-zoned by Dib, she figured she should find out more about things he was interested in and outer space and astronomy was a good place to start. Dib was sitting at the edge of the forest and the field looking up at a particularly bright shooting star that seemed to be moving closer to them. It moved closer and closer until Dib could watch it without the telescope. He pulled out his phone and called Darkbooty and the Swollen Eyeball. "Darkbooty, you won't believe this but there's an alien space craft that landed about 1500 feet in front of me! I'm in the shadows now" He said as he dropped his voice so he wouldn't be heard.

Gretchen looked over to where he was talking to see a red spacecraft standing in the field and a door open up.

"What the hell is that?" Gretchen yelled as Dib looked over to see her.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? I know I missed my personal deadline on some of my other fics but whatever. I wanted to finally get the Irkens to Earth here. I don't have really much to say here other than my usual wrap up of remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Invader Zim okay? I'm glad to see so many people like this one. I do my best to try and get some good DATR out there. But shameless self promotion aside, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

"Gretchen, what are you doing here?" Dib said, looking from the landing spacecraft to her. He knew what he was dealing with when it came to possible paranormal encounters, she did not.

Think of something quick, you're going to seem like a stalker...Gretchen thought as she placed her hand on her backpack and felt Dib's English book in there. "I notice we got our English books mixed up and tried to give it back but noticed you left to go here as I was at the door and wanted to give it back to you."

Dib rolled his eyes. He knew she was making it up and was trying to get together but he didn't want that out of her or anyone at this time. What was the point of getting into a relationship in high school when he planned to leave all this behind when he graduated. All the most serious would be someone he was holding back from their own potential in some teenage hormonal infatuation that would likely not last beyond 6 months. Being intelligent and analytical did have its downsides when it came to socialization. "And this couldn't have waited until tomorrow when we were both in class?" He asked exasperated.

"Ummmm..." Gretchen blushed.

"Just let's get in the bushes." He sighed as he pushed her back and jumped in the nearest bush and looked at the now landed spaceship.

"Wow..." Gretchen said under her breath.

"Just stay quiet." Dib ordered. "I don't know if these are friendly, hostile or just what yet." He didn't want her getting hurt just because she wandered out to meet him.

"And we have landed!" Purple said as he looked back at his small disgraced Invader crew.

"Can I take this place over?" Zim asked, while still strapped to a chair. "Have I passed this elite test yet?"

"Not yet." Red moaned. "But we are going to have to scan this area. We're going to use the ship as kind of a base but we need to make sure that there is no one around." Red looked at the few Invaders he had. Yeah they were all disgraced in one way or another but they were what he had on hand to explore this planet for him. Should I have Zim explore this place...nah...maybe... I don't know if the natives are violent or even know if we are here... they're sloppy, I could tell from the junk around their planet... If they were violent, I'd send Zim out in a heartbeat. Nah. Tak and Tenn, they're the most skilled ones here. "Tak! Tenn!" Red yelled.

"Yes?" Tak asked looking at Red.

"At your service my Tallest!" Tenn said saluting him.

"You two are some of the most skilled of my elite crew." Red said.

"What about me?" Zim yelled from across the room.

"You were not addressed!" Tak said hitting Zim. This felt good, maybe I can find some way to push him off a cliff or get him attacked on this planet. Get rid of him for good. Tak said.

"Thank you Tak." Red said. "But no, you and Tenn are some of the smartest and toughest fighters the Empire is lucky enough to have and onto a total unknown planet, we need some brilliant crew. Tenn, you nearly had Meekrob in your grasp until the accident. And by finding us shows initiative." Red explained being the master of hiding what he thought in pleasant words. "This shows great skill and talent that is needed in missions like this."

"I'm honored my Tallest." Tenn said bowing.

"Thanks." Tak said simply.

"You are to explore the immediate 1000 yard radius. From areal views we can tell this place is far from the city but we cannot be certain their isn't any remote outposts or something that could stop us. What about those disguise generators you were working on Tak?"

"I've finished them." Tak said, holding out a handful of devices. "They are placed by your eye on your left hand side and just press the disguise to generate a copy of the local race. Much better than what typical Invaders come up with.

"Good. Give one to Tenn as well; you two will scour the area as we make base camp here and make the ship look less like a ship. The Earthen race may seem like idiots but most of them would be able to tell this is incredibly different from what they are used to." Red explained.

"Yes sir my Tallest!" Tak and Tenn saluted as they headed out.

Meanwhile Dib and Gretchen were looking at the ship with awe. Gretchen felt her heart pounding in fear of the uncertain, Dib was filming everything he saw to give to the Swollen Eyeball. If there was one group that would believe him, it would be them. "Just stay down and stay quiet Gretchen." Dib ordered quietly, hearing her whimpers of fear.

"I'm trying, but this is so fucking weird. I mean, aliens are real?" Gretchen said.

"What have I been saying since we were little?" Dib sighed.

"I know but it's something you don't really expect to see..." Gretchen whimpered moving closer to him. "Can I hold onto you?" She cried.

"Just don't take it the wrong way." Dib said rolling his eyes, knowing at this point she was no longer trying to date him but was genuinely scared.

"I won't." Gretchen said closing her eyes.

Tak and Tenn headed out of the open bay door and looked around. Dib could see that they didn't look like humans at all, they were indeed aliens. He snapped as many pictures as he could. Tak looked around with her scanner and pointed to the bushes they were in.

"What is she doing?" Gretchen whimpered.

"I don't know. Just stay quiet." Dib said. He just wanted her to be safe and hopefully just forget everything that happened. If she told everyone what she saw they'd treat her much the same they did him and she got it hard enough just by having braces, he didn't want her subjected to the various interrogations, tortures, exclusions, mental home stays and the like he was subjected to.

"I am reading a pair of local life forms in those bushes over there." Tak said looking at her scanner.

"Do they seem hostile?" Tenn asked, holding her pistol close.

"I can't tell." Tak said. "Cover me, I'm going to look at that bush. It seems that if they were hostile they would have attacked by now."

"I got your back." Tenn said as Tak moved the leaves of the bush, uncovering Dib and Gretchen. "A male and a female earthling..." She read from her scanner.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Gretchen yelled in fear as Dib winced in pain.

"That was my ear!" He growled back at her.

"Sorry." She whimpered.

"They sure can be loud when frightened." Tenn said as she headed up to Tak holding up her pistol.

"Just knock them out. They don't seem like a threat." Tak said.

"Huh?" Dib said as Tenn pointed her pistol, set to sleep, and knocked them out.

Tak scanned the area, knowing after Gretchen screamed, there may be other humans summoned, but after seeing that none were coming, she motioned for Tenn to head back to the ship to report on what they had found.

"I heard that one howler monkey in here." Purple said rubbing the side of his head.

"I do believe the female was just afraid." Tenn said as she plugged her scanner into the database on the ship. "I however got a scan of their biometrics so we can make better disguises and blend in better to get a better idea of their society. I will find an educational institution that one of us could go into and learn.

"There's this place, the library." Tenn suggested. "Says there is a record in paper form and in digital forms of many subjects of Earth knowledge."

"There's an idea." Tak said.

"But that's more of a database sort of thing. If we're really going to sneak in to take this planet, we can't just know all their information. Societies have a certain way that they function. That isn't in books and easily just learned. It is something that must be taught and researched in a social function." Red said.

"Speaking of, have you found a way to disguise this place?" Tenn asked.

"I just have the invisibility boosters on at the moment. You will need to go into the city to find how these humans or whatever these earthlings call themselves house themselves in and bring back some schematics so we can simulate it." Red said.

"I think I found just the place to head to to learn about human social interaction." Tak said as the screen displayed a picture of Dib and Gretchen's Hi-Skool. "This has humans together as they are just approaching maturity."

"Looks good. And they are taught there too, so that is a good place to get some sort of information there. Now who to send..." Red said.

Tak looked over at Zim and then to Purple and knowing she just wanted a chance to either prove her worth or get out of the madhouse with two of the Irkens she could not stand the most in the Universe. "I volunteer to go to get preliminary reports before we decide if more are needed." Tak said.

"Are you sure you don't need any more help?" Purple asked.

"Nope." She said as she turned on the disguise generator, looking like a 17 year old human female with long purple hair, a purple dress with boots and leggings under them and a backpack where her PAK was. "I think I got this."

"You look just like a female of that species with that thing." Tenn said in amazement.

"I'm brilliant." Tak said. "Now I'm heading out to be there when the Skool opens. I'll send regular reports back."

"I made a disguise too!" Zim said running over wearing contact lenses that looked like human eyes over the Irken bug like eyes and a pompadour wig.

"Who untied you?" Red said.

"I got Skoodge to." Zim said. "Leadership is important to elite Irken soldiers."

"Ugggghhhhhh." Red moaned.

"NO!" Tak said as she picked Zim up and threw him across the research bay. "I'm first. You're last." She then turned to Red and Purple. "Why can't I just kill him, throw him into a black hole, something?"

"Not now." Purple said. "Now get to Skool Tak."

"I'm gone." Tak said as she headed out.

The sun rose slowly over the field, letting Dib know it was nearing 6 am. "Uggghhh... what happened last night?" He saw Gretchen holding onto him and a head in the opening the spaceship was gone, nowhere to be seen. "I could have sworn there was a spaceship there. I recorded it!"

"Uggghhhh..." Gretchen said waking up. "You sure you didn't leave the lense cap on? Happened to my dad when we went to the Grand Canyon. Lost every picture of the vacation we had."

"I would not be stupid as to- Goddamnit!" Dib yelled seeing he had done just that.

"We have got to get to Skool." Gretchen said.

"Don't tell anyone what you saw here. I appreciate having a collaborating witness for once in my life but I don't think they'll believe you either. And I don't want you to have to go through what I do on a daily basis. I'm used to it. And it's far the same from being teased for physical appearances." Dib warned. "Hop on, we'll just ride this to Skool." He motioned to his dirt bike.

"But they might believe me." Gretchen said.

"Maybe some of your closer friends and see how they react but I don't want you having to spend all your free time in the counselor's office or things like that. Or your dad freaking out." Dib said.

"He's not like yours." Gretchen moaned as she got on the back of the bike.

"Still. You don't deserve that." Dib said.

"You're sweet." Gretchen said. "But what will we tell people because someone will find out we were out last night together."

"Just play it up how it rolls." Dib sighed. "Biggest thing is to not tell them what we saw. If I tell anyone I'll be alone." Gretchen looked dejected. "It's because I want you to enjoy your childhood for once. I've been through this pain enough I'm numb to it."

As Dib sat in third period, after successfully staying awake in first period and making it through trigonometry without insulting the teacher's intelligence, He headed into English with a foreboding feeling. After this he would have to go to deal with Miss Marshall lecturing him about wasting his talent following some of his dreams. I did apply to UNLV, maybe since that isn't in the backwoods of a state she has issues with I can get her to let go there if I say I picked that. Nevada is full of paranormal stories and far enough away no one will follow me there...He thought as he tapped his pencil on his English book he had obtained from Gretchen before the class began.

"Class, we have a new student here today. Introduce yourself Tak." Mrs. Ganoe said.

"Thank you Mrs. Ganoe." Tak said in her human disguise. "I am Tak Mann and I will be joining you my fellow classmates on this educational journey."

"Very nice." Mrs. Ganoe said. "Now pick a seat. I see there's an empty one beside Dib, like usual." She panned the class, "What's wrong with you guys? Cannot take a mind that thinks differently than yours?"

"That's how it seems." Tak said as she sat down beside Dib.

"OW!" Dib said as he got hit in the back of the head by a paper wad. He looked back to see Gretchen motioning to read it. That girl's voice sounds familiar... Do you think it has something to do with last night? Dib read to himself. He quickly wrote a note back and made a paper airplane to deliver it to Gretchen.

Gretchen nodded when it landed at her desk and unfolded it. Maybe. Don't jump to conclusions yet.

Tak sat staring at the teacher and sent a message back to the base "I'm in and these humans think I am nothing more than one of them."

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. And yes while Dib would love someone to side with him, I cannot imagine he would want someone to be made fun of like he was. But now that Irk has landed and Tak's starting her information collecting, this will make things rather interesting. And using the name Mann as a last name is something I figured Tak would do when she noticed humans have 2 names. It's like that old joke name "Hugh Mann" to throw off someone wasn't human. Get it "Hugh Mann" human... Anyway, remember to read (well you just did) and to review.

Ciao for now

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own Invader Zim okay? Sorry I haven't been updating as much as I would like but to quote Meatloaf "Life is a lemon and I want my money back." Great song to play when you're pissed off at how your life is turning out. I did at least get to see the Enter the Florpus movie and loved it. But enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Dib sat in the reception area of the guidance counselor's office looking around annoyed. This was just a petty punishment by a new counselor who had issues with where she grew up and was taking them out on him just because he dared to question her true motives and what she herself was running away from. Having sat through enough of these sessions in his school career, Dib had learned a lot about psychology and how to get them off his case.

As he sat in the cold, uncomfortable plastic chair, he looked around. This was just going to be nothing but Miss Marshall trying to live vicariously through him and try to get credit with his father for "fixing the problem Membrane child". As he looked up at the clock, noticing it seemed to move slower than it should, he heard the door open.

"Yes, I'm here to speak with a counselor as was requested." Tak said.

"Sit over there." The receptionist said disinterested as she looked at the books. "Miss Marshall has an appointment with Dib there. Being crazy again or something. Anyway, she's booked this period so I'll see who can take you."

Tak smiled and sat next to Dib. Interesting, the human I saw in the forest near the landing site is named Dib and goes to this school. "So, you're Dib huh?" Tak said looking him over.

"That's the rumor. Take it you haven't heard the other names?" Dib sighed. He wasn't sure what Tak thought of him, what their first known interactions were in the previous class.

"I'm new here. I mean I heard a few people call you big head, but honestly, I don't get it. Are you smarter than the rest?" Tak said.

"Huh? You mean you don't physically think my head big?" Dib asked in joyful amazement.

"Not that much bigger than anyone else's I've seen. That's why I assumed they were making fun of your intelligence as a way to cope with their inferior brains." Tak said. I have to gauge if this human will be a threat to us or was just in the wrong place with the wrong time with that female. He is approaching the completion of sexual maturity it seems from my biological scanning of the humans in this Skool place. I have heard many of these stink monkeys talk about various forms of what I can guess to be mating in the halls and he was alone late at night with a female. Heading to the woods to 'make out' as many call it isn't uncommon.

"Wow, there's been only one other person who didn't insult my head and that was Gretchen." Dib said. "My own sister calls me some of the same things the rest of the skool kids do."

"And Gretchen was throwing notes to you in English class there." Tak said.

"You saw that? I hope the teacher didn't..." Dib sighed.

"We may have to start Shakespeare here soon and god forbid she picks a Romeo and Juliet reading seeing that. She'd be the type to pick us to read the lead roles after seeing that." Dib said.

"Anything wrong with Gretchen? Are you dating her?" Tak asked, trying to get to know at least one of the humans she had first run across the night before.

"She's a friend. She wants to go out with me but I don't feel the same about her. Besides I'm planning to head off far away for college and don't want to crush a girl like that or hold her back and force her to follow me. She's thinking of going to dental school or taking up a modeling offer." Dib said as Miss Marshall opened the door.

"Dib Membrane?" She called as Dib got up.

"That's my cue. Wonder if I can get more time getting lectured by Miss Marshall after today." Dib said with a sarcastic smile that made Tak laugh.

"Good luck with that." Tak waved cordially as she looked back at the receptionist who looked at a magazine with a lackluster care on her face.

"Good to see you are making conversation with the new girl. It can be so tough to come to a new school. You didn't start talking about nonsense to her like that paranormal crap did you? No Flatwoods Monsters or anything like that?" Miss Marshall said sternly. "You do know as part of my training I can recognize mental disorders like schizophrenia or sociopathy..."

"Like the displacement you are displaying towards me and not your childhood in West Virginia?" Dib said raising an eyebrow. "As part of my paranormal research I have to figure out who may or may not have seen or had something to them and who may be mentally ill themselves."

"Oh you're much too young for that..." Miss Marshall said dismissing Dib. "It takes years of study and training to know that. I worked very hard to be able to see this in teens myself."

"Amazing what you can learn before college when your father is the great Professor Membrane and you don't tell him the real reason you want to study psychology. He thought it would help him understand a so called 'dream or hallucination' he had where he was sent to a very tough alien prison. Just don't go talking to him about my grandfather apparently. Nice way to get him to start saying "Luke chapter 15 verses 11 through 32" a lot... I only went there once and it got kind of scary..." Dib said.

"You kind of went rambling there. And with as much as your father works, I wouldn't be surprised if he's using that to show up a religious father he left at a young age. Seems typical there. But we aren't here to discuss your father's obsessions and neurosis, but your future. Although it gives somewhere to go if I wanted to do a dissertation of heredity and mental illness." Miss Marshall said.

"Go use someone else for some sort of thesis, not like I don't get roped into experiments by my dad anyway." Dib said. He was already annoyed he had to spend 4 weeks getting lectured by her, he was not about to censor himself, even if he lost study hall for the rest of the year. He was one of the top students in the school, so they wouldn't kick him out for sassing the counselor.

"Yes. Let's drop this discussion and save it for another time shall we?" Miss Marshall said with an angry, saccharine smile. "Let's start with the closest of the schools that has accepted you, MIT..."

"Massachusetts Institute of Technology?" Dib said looking up.

"Yes, it's heard to have a fantastic partnership with your father's labs. I know cost is not a factor for you for a myriad of reasons, so what drew you to this school?" She asked.

Dib saw this as his opening to get under her skin. "Location."

"I see, many students want to get out of their home towns when they graduate and go to college far away. Is there a particular reason here?" She asked sweetly.

If you wanted to yell at me for wanting to search the Appalachians for some of the famous cryptozoological lifeforms there, I'm so going to get under your skin with stuff from a wizarding book series I read... Dib smirked. "Well Mount Greylock is in Massachusetts..." He began.

"And you do go out to the forest often to observe the skies, at least it says so in your profile. Have an interest in hiking?" She asked.

"No, I want to find the famous American wizarding school and see thunderbirds, horned serpents, wampus beasts and pukwudgies." Dib said.

"Pukwudgies?" Miss Marshall asked looking at him confused.

"Yeah. They're based in native folklore from the area. Pukwudgies are short, grey, large-eared creatures. They are distantly related to the European goblin and have been known to both help humans and play tricks on them. Pukwudgies hunt with their poisonous arrows. Despite this they are associated with those with healing hands and since my mother was a genius ER surgeon before she was brutally murdered, their magic may be able to help me bring her back." Dib said, knowing he was going to get her really angry.

"You just said all of that to piss me off didn't you?" Miss Marshall said.

" Pukwudgies are as crazy as you call the Mothman, Flatwoods monster or Bigfoot, even though with that one there has been sightings GLOBALLY." Dib said. "You're just pissed my interest in the paranormal of that region does not match yours and your issues with where you grew up. I mean I have father issues too, and if the theory is true it runs in the blood, but I have my own life to live." Dib said back, fed up with years of being treated crazy when all it did was motivate him to learn more about the paranormal and various theories to back up his stance so any open minded scholar could at least think about it.

Seeing that Dib knew he had gotten under her skin and determined not to let him undermine her authority, she looked at him and said, "Well before we make a decision, I think we need to have some self esteem discussions. There's bound to be some deep seeded issues that you need to work on if you have had a file this large from you time here in Skool." Miss Marshal said. "Same time same place tomorrow." She handed him a hall pass.

"Thanks." He said simply as he took it and headed out the door.

"So, what did she want with you?" A voice said from beside the door.

"Tak?" Dib asked in surprise turning to see her waiting for him.

"Nothing of real importance. Just trying to dictate my life. As if I didn't have enough of that at home..." He sighed.

"My appointment was pretty quick. Just had some really touchy feely guy tell me about how I shouldn't feel bad about coming to a new Skool, all that usual stuff." Tak said. "You know where the cafeteria is? Says I have lunch next." She looked at her schedule.

"I have lunch next too." Dib smiled, "I'll show you the way. So where did you come from?"

"Just what does that mean?" Tak asked, ready to defend if he saw through her disguise.

"Nothing!" He pleaded. "Just where did you go to school before you came here?"

"Homeschool." Tak said simply. With this she could easily throw someone who would want to check her background off the trail. "My parents didn't think the school system where I used to live adequate enough. I would say so myself if they couldn't see my genius..." Tak said, memories of her time on Dirt popping up in her mind.

"I know that feeling." Dib sighed. "I just can't bury myself in a video game like my sister over there and ignore it all." He motioned to Gaz playing her Gameslave 4 by the water fountain.

"Your sister?" Tak asked looking over at Gaz.

"Yeah. Year younger than me and top of her class too despite being hooked to the games all the time." Dib said looking at her.

Gaz looked up at her and to Tak and back down the hallway. "So, you get sent to the counselor's office again?" Gaz asked.

"Yeah." Dib said rolling his eyes.

"Dad's going to love hearing about that." She said simply.

"Miss Marshall is very ambitious. May want to try to psychoanalyze Dad." Dib said.

"Good luck with that one...way that man acts at Christmas time with mall Santas..." Gaz said. "So who's the new girl?"

"I'm Tak. I happen to have a few classes with your brother who is showing me to the cafeteria." Tak smiled, wanting to get to know Gaz as well to see if she'd be a threat. She could tell that Gaz was a forceful and intelligent human who could probably strategize well.

"Hi Tak." Gaz said simply. "Well Gretchen is going to be crushed." She laughed.

"Come on, I just went to prom with her as friends last year!" Dib pleaded. "Why can no one let that go?"

"Because she was one of the rejects in the corner until puberty hit her and her father finally removed her braces. Now she's a social butterfly with the beauty of a goddess so she attracts everyone's desire in the petty vain social structure of a place like Hi-Skool. And that social butterfly wants Mothman." Gaz said. "I heard what your computer buddies call you online and it fit my metaphor" She said with a dark smile. "You may want to try closing your door better."

"I still stand by my why can't people let that go comment." Dib said.

"Because she's popular now and likes you and no one likes you so they're confused." Gaz said.

"Stupid." Dib said.

"Don't need to tell me." Gaz said. "Now while you may have lunch and no one cares if you show up to that, I have to get to graphic design class."

"See you." Dib said as Gaz walked away ignoring him.

Tak noted this interaction in her mind. It would be valuable information to the Tallest. It seemed the species was very close minded and focused on vain things and had a social structure based on appearances. Teachers and those older than you were never to be questioned, even if they were wrong and could punish you. She followed Dib to the cafeteria and looked around. "So this is the cafeteria." She said.

"Gross I know." Dib sighed. "That's why I never get anything made here. Just the chips and snack foods."

"Snacks?" Tak said as she looked over to the lunch line.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. In my own personal headcannon, Professor Membrane's father was a pastor who was so dogmatic on his beliefs like Membrane is with science rules and how they need to be. You can see Professor Membrane talking himself into thinking he's just hallucinating everything alien in the Enter the Florpus movie, so you can tell he makes reality fit his dogma not the other way around. Luke 15:11-32 is the prodigal son story and father issues abound there. And I made a ton of Ilvermorny references in the part about Mount Greylock (a real place by the way) when Dib sassed the counselor. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and think he'd get along with Luna Lovegood a lot... But I digress, remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealwriter

aka

Realm.


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own Invader Zim okay? I don't have much to say in this intro but enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

"Yeah the food itself isn't very good but I at least somewhat know what is in chips. School food, I don't know." Dib said.

"Well, I don't mind if I do." Tak said as she grabbed a few bags of snack foods and a diet poop cola and handed some money to the cashier.

"That stuff is horrible for you." Dib said.

"Maybe but at least it tastes good." Tak said. So snacks are bad for humans but they still eat a lot of them. "And did you not say at least you somewhat know what is in these?"

"I guess." Dib said.

Tak opened the bag and munched on the chips, tasting them in her mouth. "Not bad." She said. "So, what else does this place have to offer?"

"Let me see your schedule." Dib said as Tak handed him her schedule and he looked over it. "After this you have science, history, math and finally homeroom... you're in mine actually."

"I think they said it was grouped by last name." Tak said quickly, trying to have it seem that it was pure coincidence and not like she was stalking him.

"Meh. It's my last year here, I don't care what they do anymore. I just want it to be June. And I am done with these fools." Dib moaned looking at his books.

Tak looked over at him, noticing something she had seen in herself. There was something he had against his classmates. They did pick on him for being different but she could not see how that was inherently any thing that could be bad. He was quite intelligent. Sure, he did have a slightly bigger than normal head and pointy hair but honestly that was nothing that seemed to be a negative trait. Humans seemed to be rather vain. But that desire to do his own thing and spirit was something she had seen a lot in herself. "So what will you do then?" Tak asked.

"Go to college somewhere else, far from here to reduce the risk of running into any former classmates." Dib sighed. "Why do you care?"

"Just do." Tak said. "You seem too interesting to be treated like you do."

"This isn't a set up, not like what some girls did my sophomore year where they made like they were interested in me for a long time then betrayed my trust?" Dib asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You don't trust people much do you?" Tak asked.

"Would you?" Dib replied.

"Fair point." She said thinking to the fact she did not trust that the Tallest had her best interests at heart at all and even if they did take the planet, she knew better than to expect that they would give her any credit for anything she did.Well I'm learning a bit about negative human interaction here. Maybe I won't destroy this human... Tak thought as she looked back at him. She saw his disgust and disappointment and felt a strange feeling in her gut. What is this feeling? She thought as she looked at him.

"Oh hi guys!" Gretchen said sitting down, placing her salad down beside them. "How are you liking this place Tak?"

"Oh, it's only my first day." Tak said pouring on the innocent new girl charm.

"I noticed you talking to his sister in the hallway." Gretchen said. "She didn't scare you did she?"

"No," Tak asked genuinely confused.

"Gaz likes to keep to herself and hates to be disturbed. Really hates it." Dib said, not wanting to scare Tak and cast a dirty look at Gretchen who looked away in embarrassment.

"I could get that from her. If Gaz doesn't want to talk to me, I'm fine with that." Tak explained.

"See you didn't get the cafeteria food either." Gretchen said noticing Tak's choice in snacks. "Don't blame you."

"What'd you get?" Tak asked.

"Salad. They have a salad bar and I won't eat anything cooked here. How you can go from the same type of chicken patty that you can get at McMeatie's to that-" She pointed with her fork to where another student was covering their patty in Italian salad dressing and mustard "Is beyond me."

"That's a lot of condiments. And a unique combination..." Tak observed.

"In the past few years the school board thought that school kids were becoming too obese. So they removed all the full flavored drinks, stopped frying things and offered only 'baked' snacks." Dib explained. "So to make the food edible, most students pile on the condiments. We used to have ranch dressing here but when they made the change, that went."

"They still have it at the salad bar." Gretchen said holding up the packet she had gotten.

"Yeah, the low fat kind." Dib stuck out his tongue. "And that doesn't taste very good. And you're only allowed so much dressing for a salad. And if they were really concerned about student's health, they'd know that these diet drinks and low fat additives are just as bad if not worse than some of the regular drinks." Dib sighed.

"You're still mad you cannot get that Poop cola you like at school and you hate the diet." Gretchen sighed as she turned to her salad.

"With a passion. And I hate when they say that that one is better. Like it's not..." Dib said.

"As you can see Tak..." Gretchen began. "Dib hates it when someone lies to him about their intent."

"Especially when the lie is complete crap." Dib said. "Who do they take us for? Idiots?"

"Not all of us have high IQs, you know most of the students are very... simple..."Gretchen said. "There are times you make me feel like an idiot by not understanding what you're saying and my father is a dentist and a therapist. You don't get two doctorates without having something of a brain. So don't act like the only offspring of a phd recipient here."

"Sorry." Dib said, realizing his ranting was getting under Gretchen's skin. "I guess I have a hard time thinking that a beautiful person has a brain..."

"Well, maybe nowhere quite near yours but better than most. And it's not fair you judge my intellect by my looks." Gretchen said getting up and walking away.

"What's her issue?" Tak asked.

"Think we're on different wave lengths on some things." Dib sighed as the bell for lunch to end rang.

"Well I got to head to science class." Tak said.

"Do you need directions?" Dib asked.

"I think I got it. They did include a map." Tak said. "But you can be quite helpful." She waved as they headed off.

During that science class, Tak sat, bored, knowing that humans had a limited understanding of what their 'science' could do. Most of the information she would have had to learn, she was taught as a smeet in the most basic of schools back on Irk, but the science she had worked her way into was 'Earth Science' knowing this would teacher her about the planet that they were on and how they could adapt. She made sure to take careful notes to bring back to the Tallest but her thoughts kept drifting back to Dib. How he hated everyone he was around. How he was just going though the motions he was supposed to. Much like she was. Something just wouldn't leave her alone about this, and a weird feeling was arising in her abdomen again. Brushing it off, she headed back to her base at the end of the day, running into Tenn along the way.

"Tak, how was your first day of school?" Tenn asked as they headed back to the base.

"Meh. Got some useful observations. And don't go for diet snack food here. I think it's disagreeing with my squeedlyspooch." She said handing Tenn a Diet Poop.

"I'll analyze that when we get back." Tenn said putting it in her PAK. "But regular Earth snack foods seem to have no effect. I've been drinking the regular all day at the library."

"You actually went there?" Tak asked.

"Well, we need as much information as we can get and it seemed to be just sitting there. I've got tons of pages scanned and notes for the Tallest to give a great amount of data on this planet." Tenn said.

"Well the diet is the only thing I can get at the Hi-Skool. Seems that they don't want their students eating what is considered to be unhealthy. The human who was guiding me around said that while the chemicals they put in it lower caloric count, they can also be harmful in other ways." Tak said. "At least for humans, that's why I think I have a fluttering feeling in my Squeedlyspooch."

"Or maybe..." Tenn giggled.

"Or maybe what?" Tak asked looking at Tenn rather annoyed.

"It's what humans call in these books 'a fluttering in the stomach' when they are in love." Tenn said pulling out a book with the title Wolfman Bare Chest

"That's one of those trashy romance novels human females read." Tak said. "I saw the librarian reading one. "I am not having a desire to mate with Dib!"

"You used his name!" Tenn laughed.

"So what?" Tak asked. "I don't want to mate with him and that's that."

"Whatever you say." Tenn said.

"You need to get your mind focused on the mission." Tak said as she took the book from Tenn. "Dib is just highly trusting yet intelligent. He could be quite useful as the son of one of this planet's top scientists too. Nepotism is high in human society and he can get me into his father's labs if need be. I looked up his father's name after Gretchen mentioned his father's job in relation to her father's bizarre career choice."

"What do you mean?" Tenn asked.

"Dentist and therapist. Mental and dental health." Tak asked.

"Odd. Usually when a human specializes they keep it to one or if they have two, they have specialties that pertain close to the main one. I ran into a neurologist who was studying psychology. Neurologists study the human nervous system including the brain and psychology studies human behavior. He was looking for a link between brain damage and changes in behavior." Tenn explained. "You see I had been talking to humans too." She added in defense of Tak's piercing gaze.

"Fine, you're helping out!" Tak rolled her eyes. "Besides, that Gretchen female is the one you want to talk to about misplaced desire to mate."

"What do you mean?" Tenn asked.

"She wouldn't stop stalking Dib it seemed after he kept dropping hints that he wanted to be as they say 'just friends'. Humans need social interaction but it is not all romantic. It is useful." Tak said.

"Whatever you say." Tenn said as they approached the base.

"I DO NOT LIKE DIB LIKE THAT!" Tak yelled as she headed in, causing Red, Purple, Zim and Skoodge to look at her. "Forgive me my Tallest." Tak bowed. "I was just discussing some areas of observation I had today with Tenn who did her own information gathering as well."

"Okay..." Red said looking at her, slightly weirded out by her statement.

"Skoodge!" Tak called as he rushed over and saluted her.

"Yes Tak!" Skoodge asked.

"Analyze this stuff. It's the diet soda Dib said was just as detrimental for human health as the regular and it has me curious as to if it is bad for Irkens. It seems the regular human snacks are safe but I want to be sure."

"Yes mam!" Skoodge said as he ran off to the labs.

"Just whose mission is this?" Purple said from behind Tak.

"Yours my Tallest." Tak said. "I'm just taking charge to make sure it is done as best as it should be."

"Don't get too pushy Pur," Red said as he pulled Purple away. Once out of earshot, he whispered to him, "We need Tak. She's the best we got out of the rejects of Irken society and if anyone's going to make this place useful, it's her. Don't piss her off."

"Fine." Purple sulked.

So how was that? Good? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I'm thinking of starting a sort of sequel to Taboo here in a few months, at the one year mark since I finished it. Just let me if you would want that. I'm going to make it pretty stand alone on its own but still. I had a flop of a sequel before due to insufficient demand. And if you have any ideas for DATR fics, let me know. I'm looking to do more but that well is dry for ideas personally. Anyway, remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.


	9. Chapter 9

I don't own Invader Zim okay? I know it's been awhile since I updated but hey, between writer's block and life, it's been hard trying to get the ideas to write for this. But anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Tak lay in her bunk as Tenn presented her notes to the Tallest. They were here to see if this planet was of any use to the Irken Empire or not and she was wondering just how she should feel about that. The humans seemed to be nothing but dumb ignorant creatures, except for a few she had met at Skool. Gaz, Gretchen and Dib all seemed to be able to hold intelligent conversations. She looked out the door as Zim was talking about using bees to take over the planet and take it over to Irk. It would never work. Skoodge was humoring Zim, at least Tak hoped he was humoring him, about the plan. It made no sense. She knew that. But she had to admit to herself that part of this mission was dubious at best.

Remembering she needed to at least look like a typical Hi-Skool student, she picked up the English textbook and began to read it. They were discussing Paradise Lost and Tak wanted to seem on top of things. But do I want to seem too on top of things. She pondered as she looked at the text with a blank look. "Dib is pretty smart, does keep up with the work assigned to these idiots and he's still made fun of. It seems that Gaz and Gretchen do the same but they are not made fun of." Tak mused as she read the book.

"What's up?" Tenn asked as she came into the cabin, distracting Tak.

"Nothing much. Homework." Tak sighed.

"Homework?" Tenn asked.

"We had it in the academy too. Stuff you did after class for the next day. I have to read this story about a demon from their religion with jealousy issues it seems. This guy Satan doesn't like Jesus takes a third of the angels to rebel, then gets kicked out of this place called heaven and then takes it out on this guy called God's new creation. Earth and humanity." Tak said.

"I've heard of that story." Tenn said.

"In Paradise Lost? That's what we're reading." Tak sighed. "And it can get boring."

"Well I found this thing online." Tenn said as she pulled up an animated video on BoobTube on a smartphone she found. "It's a video sharing site and it seems that someone animated it. You can watch that and not have to read it."

"On this?" Tak asked as she looked at the device.

"It's called a Smartphone and humans do so much on this. I was able to grab it when the human who owned it went to the bathroom and left it. I learned a lot from the social networks on this as humans use it to socialize a lot." Tenn explained.

"So what was all that old dusty archival work for?" Tak said looking at Tenn. "Especially if you're still good at stealing stuff for the Empire."

"Peace and quiet." Tenn replied simply. "Getting attacked by Meekrob and mocked does tend to make one regret their life choices and keep to themselves."

"I understand." Tak said as she watched the video. "This maker teaches better than the humans who do it for a living." She mused.

Dib sat at his computer trying to get through some of the data he had from the app he had made. Maybe my systems can process this data better than the smartphone can. I mean it only has so much processing power. He sighed as the radio waves were being converted into binary which could be translated better. Dib did recall the 'Solus' comment and the fact that somehow an alien race evolved its language to perfect English. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility, with the universe being so vast. "That's what keeps Dad where he's at, not accepting of my ideas. He sticks to the known rules and only deviates slightly from the path of the known acting like he's soooooooooooooooo impressive." Dib sighed when he got a message from Darkbooty. "Darkbooty!" Dib yelled as he hit accept.

"Agent Mothman, how was your day?" Darkbooty asked as the call began.

"Okay I guess. I taunted my guidance counselor with the idea I wanted to go to MIT to chase after a wizarding school from a children's book." Dib said.

"Schools tell you what to think, not how to think for yourself. I bet you will be happy when you graduate." Darkbooty said.

"As long as college isn't the same. But hey I know the basics to fake my way through." Dib said.

"You're quite intelligent Mothman." Darkbooty said. "But to business. Tuna Ghost and I have analyzed what we could from the data you sent us and determined it was from the other side of the Milky Way."

"That close?" Dib said. "I was hoping it was from like Alpha centari or something." Dib said. "Some Grey named Tony to be my friend."

"Seriously? I thought you were a little more mature than that." Darkbooty sighed.

"Sorry. But you still work as a janitor for NASA." Dib said.

"Did you ever think as to why that might be?" Darkbooty said.

"Not really. I knew you were pretty smart and could do a good job on things like this and I did sort of wonder why you were just a janitor." Dib said. "You're so brilliant."

"Yes I am. But you would be amazed at how much people let things slip around the help staff. You see, I did start down the path that would make me a respectable scientist in the research community when I was your age, thinking much like you were Mothman. But I also knew that I needed compelling proof and knew where it could be found. I took an internship at NASA when Voyager II was launched and realized that no matter how secret we were to keep things, nobody noticed when the janitors changed the trash or mopped up or anything like that. It was there I realized that would be how I would get my intelligence. That and government agencies have nice retirement plans. I knew that by the time I got old I would need it." Darkbooty said.

"Interesting." Dib said. He couldn't deny that there was some truth to what he said, but he himself did not want to fall into a mere janitor that no one would believe anyway. "But if you found something NASA had that said in big bold print by the president himself that aliens exist, no one would believe you because of your job as a janitor. I want to be out there in the field getting the ectoplasm, finding the aliens myself and have the credentials to have people know what I am talking about."

"Well, I guess I am not as much a glory seeker as you are. You got guts kid. I'll be the one guiding you along." Darkbooty said.

"Well what else were you able to uncover from the message?" Dib asked, trying to get back on the original topic.

"Other than what we heard it say, not much." Darkbooty said. "But the location should tell you something. And they must have very advanced technology if not too long ago Voyager I went missing. But I have a feeling you are forgetting to tell me something Mothman. Something big."

Dib smacked himself in the face. Why in the world had he forgotten it? Probably because he didn't want Gretchen dragged into this and labeled as much of a freak as he is when she had gotten out of that treatment. But this was Darkbooty and the Swollen Eyeball. This was the kind of thing they dealt with on a daily basis. "I went to my usual stargazing spot and well Gretchen followed me."

"This is when that thing landed in front of you?" Darkbooty asked.

"Well yeah. I guess I ended the call when I was making sure Gretchen was okay." Dib sighed.

"You're sweet to make sure the young lady is safe. But what happened then?" Darkbooty prompted.

"Well I heard some talking and yelling. Couldn't quite make out just exactly what they were saying and then two came and explored the area and then they came close to the bushes Gretchen and I were hiding in and then one pointed a pistol shaped object and we fell asleep. Next thing I know, we wake up in the morning and have to rush off to school." Dib explained.

"And I am sure you told this Gretchen to stay quiet unless you wanted her to tell others about this right?" Darkbooty said.

"Yeah. I said no one would believe her and I didn't want her made fun of like I was. She used to be treated as one of the rejects in the corner when we were growing up. Once she went through puberty and had her braces removed, she became a beauty queen but never lost her heart of gold for the rejects of the class. So while her looks boosted her to popularity, she didn't let it go to her head." Dib explained.

"So sweet. Don't mistreat her." Darkbooty said.

"I'M NOT DATING GRETCHEN!" Dib yelled.

"BE QUIET IN THERE!" Gaz yelled from across the hall.

"Please do not yell." Darkbooty winced. "But even if you don't like her like that, she sounds like a good friend. An ally. Something many in the Swollen Eyeball are not lucky to have."

"Sorry. Just sensitive about that I guess." Dib said.

"It happens." Darkbooty said. "Now this is just a theory but what if those aliens that landed there were the ones that sent the message to begin with. Did anything out of the usual happen at Skool the following day?"

"There was a new girl in class who actually seemed to think I was smart and didn't make fun of my head." Dib noted. Then he remembered the note Gretchen passed him and pieces started falling together. "Gretchen told me the voice of this new girl sounded familiar. Maybe like the alien that knocked us out. But she looked normal."

"What was the name?" Darkbooty said.

"Tak Mann." Dib said.

"Hmmmmmmm….." Darkbooty said. "No conclusions can be fully drawn but think of that last name. 'Mann'.

"There are people with that last name." Dib said.

"Yes. But keep an eye on Tak. Absence of proof is not proof of absence."

"You saying Tak is the alien who knocked us out?" Dib asked.

"I'm saying we don't know and the evidence is compelling. Do not jump to conclusions Mothman." Darkbooty said as he hung up.

Dib lay back on his bed and sighed. There was a good point that was made that it could be very likely that Tak was one of the aliens in that landing party he saw. But she might not be. There was no real reason for her to be one, at least from what he saw. And the voices may have sounded the same but that wasn't something to be taken as absolute proof. If Tak is an alien, why did she treat me so well? I mean no one treats me like that! Most just make fun of me. Why can't I just have one person who believes me other than Gretchen! She's too nice to get dragged into this! Dib thought as he looked at the glowing map of stars he had put on his ceiling. "They must have very advanced technology if they can come to this planet really quick, even if they were in the Milky Way to begin with." Dib said as he looked out the window into the night sky. "Be really funny if the one girl who doesn't make fun of me is an alien."

"Are you getting a crush on the new girl?" Gaz asked as she opened the door to his room.

"GAZ!" Dib yelled jumping into a corner, holding a star map pillowcase up to his chest. "What are you doing in my room?"

"Reminding you to be quiet. I don't care about your problems. What I do care about is not dying for the 50th time and you ruining my livestream. My GameSlave 5 with full backwards compatibility won't pay for itself. I'm not asking Dad for the money. And I'm not going to keep buying new GS2s to play Vampire Piggy Hunter."

"Didn't they remake that for the GameSlave 4?" Dib asked.

"It's not the same." Gaz said. "Now be quiet. My subscribers don't want to hear about your alien love woes."

"Shut up!" Dib yelled.

"You're blushing." Gaz said as she shut the door.

"I'm not!" Dib blushed at the closed door. Me getting a crush on an alien. And why is it the only person who doesn't think my head is big is an alien….. I'm messed up…..

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. Now I don't know how fast I can update these things but I want to get to this one scene I have had planned for a very long time. But the pieces are start to fall together in Dib's mind. So what will that mean in Skool? You'll have to read on to find out. I don't have much else to say so remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

Otherrealmwriter

Aka

Realm.


	10. Chapter 10

I don't own Invader Zim okay? I'm so glad to see this story getting the response it is. I mean I think we can all agree there is hardly enough DATR out there. I've got plenty of other fics with this pairing too and thinking of doing a sequel to Taboo, but have to figure something besides the obvious shipping. But you're not here for that, you're here for the story so enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Light peered in as Dib stirred awake. He had a rough night as he began to think about just what he really felt for Tak, and if she was an alien, and if she was, was she part of one of those that sent that the message that sounded bad? And if she was part of a group planning to take over Earth, no way she would actually like a human? Maybe if she did they wouldn't attack Earth? Dib sighed as he looked over at the clock and saw that he had to get up and get ready for school. Seeing that there wasn't much time for a shower, he quickly got dressed and sprayed a little extra body spray on and headed to the kitchen. Gaz usually made a pot of coffee so he headed over to where she was finishing a bowl of Cocosplodies.

"You put on a ton more body spray than usual." Gaz noted.

"Yeah I kind of slept a little later than I should have. Had to skip the shower." He blushed.

"Pining over your feelings Romeo?" Gaz smirked.

"Stop that!" He said as he poured himself a cup of coffee and stuck a toaster pocket in the toaster. "Glad Dad didn't mess with the toaster. I don't have much time." Dib sighed.

"Look, if you're so frustrated with your feelings for Tak, be she alien or human, why not talk to her?" Gaz said.

"Because she's new to the school, I don't know her that well, I don't want to start a high school relationship on physical attraction knowing that she will have her own life to lead once we graduate, and I don't want to freak her out or come on strong. She has every right to reject me. For a valid reason." Dib said as he sipped his coffee.

"And just what would be a valid reason?" Gaz said, eying her brother suspiciously.

"Just doesn't feel the same." He said as the toaster pocket popped up. "I know I'm unpopular Gaz. Very unpopular. I'm not completely stupid socially."

"I guess not." Gaz smiled.

"Not all of us can just scare the crap out of everyone." Dib said biting the egg, cheese and bacon filled pastry. "But if the only reason someone gives for not liking me is my social status then that's pretty pathetic."

"And if they reject you for that alone, then they aren't worth your time. Don't beat yourself up over someone so shallow." Gaz said. "And I don't think Tak is shallow enough to let what a few braindead classmates of yours who are more obsessed with Jason Beaver and looking cool at this point in their lives determine who she hangs out with and likes. She seems to be a free thinker."

Dib dropped his cup of coffee on the floor and looked at Gaz. Here was his little sister, the one he worked for years to protect despite her constant aggression and insults to him, the one who beat him up for having the TV too loud or eating the last of the cereal, giving good advice to him. Noticing this pause in him, she looked up and sighed. "Look, I may be your sister and I may be aggressive but I am the only one who can put you through hell for being an idiot. And our Skoolmates are bigger idiots than you act so yeah." Gaz said as she quickly got up and put the bowl she was eating from in the sink. "But clean that spill up and get in the car. "It's us against the world anyway. What with Dad being so busy. All. The. Time."

"Yeah yeah…." Dib said as he grabbed some paper towels and mopped up his spilled coffee. But this did lead to an interesting revelation out of him about Gaz. Their mother had died when they were very young and while he was old enough to have some memory of her, Gaz was not and without their father being around much, it was obvious they both had some issues with normal social behavior. But maybe with them getting older, Gaz was coming to terms with how she felt about her family. By telling him what she did, it showed she did care. But he also knew if he prodded Gaz on the matter, then she would get rather aggressive back, he decided to keep his thanks to himself and just drive them to Hi-Skool in quiet how she liked it.

As he drove the city streets, watching out for other rush hour motorists who were hardly paying attention, his thoughts turned back to Tak. So, let's play devil's advocate and say she is human. Species status aside, let's just figure this out. He thought as he slammed on the brakes as a driver in an SUV talking on her cell phone cut him off.

"Jackass!" Gaz yelled looking up from her Gameslave.

"What? Me? For not wrecking the car on that lady?" Dib asked.

"No for her not knowing how to drive." Gaz said.

"Can't wait for you to get your license…." Dib said under his breath as he turned down the road to where the Hi-Skool was. As he parked and headed out, he saw Tak sitting on a bench by the door. He jumped up and paused looking at her, feeling his heart beat faster.

"Well, she's there Romeo, let her know how you feel." Gaz smirked as she shut the door behind them, slung her backpack across her shoulder and headed down to Skool.

"Okay Dib, calm down. All that is going on in your head is typical pubescent male feelings that can easily be overridden with some logic. You're not very well liked socially so anyone who talks to you like a human being is a change of pace that is great for your mental health and it is only natural to be overly affectionate towards the one who does that. The fact the person who did so is a girl does not help the biological urges." He told himself as he walked down the pathway.

Tak had left her base early, as the sun rose. She could hardly stand being around anyone other than Tenn in the headquarters and Tenn wanted to get out bright and early and stop at some coffee shops to talk to the humans before she went back to the library to study more. After what Tenn had been through, she could hardly blame her for wanting to do more quiet searching for knowledge than what Tak was doing, but the feelings of infatuation that Tak was overcome with was rather new to her. Tenn had told her about the human females who would go to the "romance" section and read books like "Wolfman Bare Chest" and other trashy and poorly written novels that they read for pleasure and to as Tenn called it, 'satisfy some unmet need for love and affection' but most of those were beaten out of them in the academy to be an Invader and if not there, certainly the rejection she had felt from being denied a retest because of something totally beyond her control burned into her with a passion. But Dib was different. What, she couldn't pin point. He headed up to where she was sitting, so she got up and walked over.

"Hey Dib!" Tak waved. "Did you finish that reading for English class."

He placed his palm on his forehead. "I knew I was forgetting something last night!"

"Well what were so preoccupied with you forgot a school assignment?" Tak asked as she opened the door for him.

Knowing he couldn't just come out and say 'I think I may have a crush on you, I think you're an alien who is here to conquer my planet and I don't know what else' He thought of the simplest way he could to change the subject. "Meh, forgot. I don't find much of the stuff we're assigned to read very interesting."

"Shame." Tak said as she casually pushed a cheerleader out of the way as he followed her. "It can be quite interesting beyond the cold hard facts that men are usually better at." Tak smirked as she looked around at Dib.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?" Dib said as he looked at her annoyed.

"Nothing much. Just us females are much more perceptive to things that are not so well…. Concrete. Defined." Tak smirked. "Thus we tend to like reading literature much more than men."

"Oh yeah." Dib said. "You think I am just some macho man with only his brain on math?"

"Well yeah." Tak said teasing him. She knew he wasn't but it was fun to get under his skin and antagonize him. She couldn't quite place it but she was drawn to him. "Let's go to the library. Much quieter."

"Fine. But you'll have to be quiet too." Dib said as they walked away from the rest of the students and headed up to the library. It wasn't as big as the city's public library where Tenn spent most of her research time, but she did see a little bit of the appeal. Here was a wealth of knowledge at the human's fingertips that was not subject to being lost of a device failed and they never used it. Dib headed over to the paranormal section and looked around. He browsed over the titles when he sighed. "No new books."

"Why does that matter?" Tak asked.

"Well I read all these. Many times." Dib said. "I prefer using these instead of relying on the internet for any new paranormal theories. There's TV shows with hosts with hair crazier than mine but it's nothing but the same old stuff again and again just applied to different ancient civilizations. Gets old."

"Well what's wrong with the internet?" Tak asked, looking at Dib's disappointment, standing next to him.

"Hard to find out what's real and what's old, what's new, what's fake. I mean it's a source and some ways it can be helpful, not going to deny that. But so much gets lost in the mess. You could find anything to prove anything online. No good for real research. I demand the facts. The facts damn you!"

"Shhhhhh!" The librarian said looking over at Dib.

"Sorry Mrs. Dewey." Dib said as she nodded and went back to the computer and checking in books. He then looked over at Tak and sighed. No matter what species she was really, she was the only one to ask him anything about himself. She took an interest and seemed to care. Is she using me? Does she mean it? Am I just opening myself up to heartbreak? Well I just have to make it through this school year, then I can move far off and leave these idiots behind while I go after my own life. I'm already a fool in most of their eyes, so why not? Dib thought as he turned to Tak. "I'm sure you know who my dad his."

"The famous Professor Membrane. His face is on a lot and your hair is so much alike I'd be surprised if you weren't genetically related." Tak smiled.

"Well he's a well-known and respected scientist. His works are many and he and everyone else wants me to follow in his footsteps. Now all Dad really does is dig deeper into what's already known. But I want to go beyond that. Prove the things people have doubted as legend or story forever. I mean with so many similarities in how things are perceived over cultures with little or no interaction for centuries, it can't be fake! Ghosts, aliens, cryptids, they're all deeper parts of this world and of who we are. They make this mysterious puzzle called the meaning of life so much deeper and worth more. And if discovery is what we are after, we can only make cell phone service so fast. We can get people free power but then what? What do we do when sickness is cured by one pill? The answers to the paranormal are deeper than what my dad calls 'real science'. I know it. That's why I keep pushing myself into this. I've got a goal, a dream. And to hell with those who think it's stupid."

"SHHHHHHHHH!" Mrs. Dewey said again looking sternly over at Dib.

"Sorry." Dib said as he took Tak's hand and led her over to the reference section, in the furthest back corner where it was less likely anyone would hear them and they would disturb anyone. "Go ahead. Call me whatever you will and just let me be."

Tak sighed. Dib was used to rejection at this point. He had passion and a cause. She already knew he was smarter than the rest of the humans she encountered. This however spoke to her on a new level. She knew what a dream deferred was. How it felt to be brushed off and your abilities ignored. Maybe, just maybe if this whole thing didn't work out, she could help him. As an Irken, she already knew plenty about aliens she could teach him. Show him the stars, a world beyond anyone's imagining. He wanted the bigger picture, she could give it to him. Tak, not knowing what overcame her, pulled Dib's face to hers. "I don't think any of that is stupid." She said as she kissed him.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I don't have much else to say here that I said in the opening, so yeah. I'm glad so many people like this and if you get your own DATR ideas, go ahead and write them. Lord knows we need more. So anyway, remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

Otherrealmwriter

Aka

Realm


	11. Chapter 11

Okay by chapter 11 you should know that I don't own Invader Zim okay?I'm glad to see so many people like this fic. And I challenge you out there to try and write your own DATR as well. With nearly a literal third of the global population on lock down, now's a perfect time to try. Boredom can be a bitch. (Especially when you have stuff to do because you'd been working yourself to death at another job and you want your rare leisure time to feel that way...) Rant aside, enough of this A/N, on with the fic.

Dib perked up in surprised. So Tak does feel about me the same as I do about her... He mused in his mind. Her lips on his felt rather good So this is what all those idiots went on about since the sixth grade... Not knowing what he was supposed to do he raised his hand her shoulder when Tak pulled away. "Sorry" Tak said as she broke the kiss and looked away. "I don't know what came over me, but I just had to do that. Had to get it out of my system or something I just don't know... Sorry if you feel violated or something... I know unwarranted physical attention like that is rather taboo..."

"Don't be." Dib said as he looked at Tak, face growing redder with embarrassment. "I...I... liked that."

"You did?" Tak said in surprise.

"Yeah..." Dib said. "I guess I don't need to fear saying it, but I think I've been getting a crush on you. Nice to know you feel the same."

"Yeah. It's scary when you don't know..." Tak blushed.

"Lovebirds, get to your homeroom!" Mrs. Dewey said.

"Yes." Dib and Tak said as they headed out the library in separate directions. "See you in English class." they waved.

Gretchen looked up from the astronomy shelves with a sigh. So he's not going to feel for me what I do for him. What does Tak have that I don't? I mean I'm pretty, caring and smart! She looked down on the book about the Eagle Head galaxy and sighed. If she was honest with herself, while not completely dismissive of the paranormal, she could just never be as into it as Dib is, or even a fraction of his passion for it. It was all just something she had learned more about to get his attention. Maybe Tak is like some really famous investigator with her own show or something? Nah, I'd have been hassled by the producer by now. Gretchen thought as she placed the book on the table to check out.

"So, trying to court that pointy haired kid?" Mrs. Dewey said.

"Maybe..." Gretchen sighed.

"Ah I remember being young and in love too. It's misleading. You'll fall in love with your high school sweetheart, give up yourself to follow him wherever he goes, knowing full well you hate this city but he didn't earn that masters in economics for nothing and he won a good lottery to go play on Wall Street. He will then lose it all after promising you never had to work again and he ends up as a middle management paper pusher in a city where rent is sky rocketing so you have to work as well and all you can get is a dumb librarian job at one of the city's Hi-Skools..." Mrs. Dewey said bitterly as she checked out the book for Gretchen.

"Excuse me?" Gretchen asked, looking at the librarian rather concerned.

"You heard me." Mrs. Dewey said. "I was trying to warn you with my story. I did what you are thinking of doing."

"I've had a crush on him since the 5th grade..." Gretchen said.

"Get out while you still can." Mrs. Dewey said. "You're one of the smart ones and was lucky enough to get hit with a gorgeous stick when your braces were finally moved. You have a powerful card and a useful card. Don't throw them away for a childhood crush."

"And which is which?" Gretchen said, rather annoyed people focused more on her looks.

"You know damn well. Beauty will get you further than brains." Mrs. Dewey said. "Or you'll wake up and find yourself in a lousy job while he fucks up with his dreams in his 20s and when you're 35 he'll be forced to work on stuff his father does crushing his soul and it will be taken out on you."

"You ever think of couple's therapy?" Gretchen asked. If she was drawing on her own personal experience to warn her about being true to yourself then it sounded bad. "Or if your husband is such a dud, why not divorce him?"

"In too deep. We've borrowed and fanagled ourselves into a situation where we can't go to therapy, too expensive and not like either of insurances cover it, and we're both to stubborn to file the paperwork, the deed must be started by the other one, so divorce isn't going to happen. I frankly don't want half the debts as I can't afford a lawyer who will get me a good treatment. Although with big hair's father's empire, you get a good lawyer when it falls apart, you'd never have to work again." Mrs. Dewey said.

"That's a horrible reason to marry someone. And I am not thinking that far ahead anyway." Gretchen said blushing.

"Sure you're not..." Mrs. Dewey said. "Just remember I see more than you think I do as the librarian here."

"Sure..." Gretchen said as she walked away. But Tak's voice rang in her head. Back to the night where those aliens knocked them out to the next morning. The tone, accent and infliction were unique. She hadn't heard many others talk like that but maybe a sassy British girl from London but had spent some time in California as well. But it just sounded too similar to that other alien. What if Tak is that alien we saw there? And she's kissing Dib? What could she want? Maybe she wants in his father's labs? I'm sure Professor Membrane has some big connections... and an invading alien could use that... She sighed as she headed into chemistry class.

English class found Dib, Tak and Gretchen in the same classroom. Dib was already there, sitting in his seat, with a dazed look on his face. Gretchen looked slightly away as she took her seat behind his. Tak came in and she saw Dib's face light up. That should be me! Gretchen thought as she tightened her fists.

"Hello class." Mrs. Ganoe said as she came into the room. "I hope you all did the reading. You'll find yourself not getting a lot because I doubt many of you regularly went to Sunday School."

"What would going to something lame like that have to do with the story?" One of their classmates said raising his hand.

"If you had bothered to even read the literature like I told you to, you'd know why." Mrs. Ganoe said. "So can you tell me about what Paradise Lost is about?"

"Ummmmmmm... there was a paradise and it got lost..." The boy said trying to cover up for his obvious lack on knowledge on the subject.

"Remind me to never assign you a book report on some of the other famous British works. Which I don't get why you wouldn't read them." Mrs. Ganoe sighed.

"I don't get it either." Tak said to Dib reading the titles in their textbook.

"These kids won't read a full headline let alone the whole article." Dib sighed.

Gretchen ground her teeth in frustration before her dentist father's voice came up in her mind. "You don't want to do that. You had those things on for too long to mess your teeth up like that."

As the teacher went over the allegorical references to the story and how even though it was an essentially a Bible fanfiction, the meaning was buried deeper than Pilgrim's Progress both written in the same time frame. I have got to get to him alone. If Tak is what I think she is, then all she is going to do is use him! She then looked down at her chemistry book and came up with an idea. The bell rang and Gretchen perked up. "Hey Dib, you're good at science aren't you?" she asked.

"Yeah I guess so." Dib said.

"I've got to head out. My next class is on the other side of the school. See you at lunch." Tak said.

"See you." Dib said with a dreamy look in his eyes.

"Well I can have your full attention now. And we have the same route to go so I'll just get started." Gretchen sighed, holding back a feeling of nausea at what she had seen.

"What do you need?" Dib asked as they walked down the hall.

"Well I need help on my chemistry-" Gretchen started to say when she just swallowed her pride "Not that."

"Then what is it?" He asked concerned.

"I'm going to be honest, I think Tak is one of those aliens that knocked us out the other night." Gretchen said.

"Yeah and?" Dib asked.

"And I think she's trying to use you to get to -wait you don't seem concerned about that?" Gretchen asked. "What if she gives you something or lays eggs in your stomach?"

"It's not like the movies, alien biology." Dib said.

"Oh yeah, isn't all of that theoretical anyway?" Gretchen sighed. "It could be exactly like that movie and you'll be laying on a lunch table while some weird offspring jumps out your gut. That and I think you are too starved for affection that you will fall head over heels for the first girl that pays attention and talks on your level."

"Are you jealous?" Dib asked. "I don't know how many times I've told you but I only see you as a friend. Now if you need help on your homework, I'll be glad to because we're friends." He said trying to put emphasis on the friends part.

"You were the one who said you didn't want to get romantically involved with anyone because we were just in Hi-Skool!" Gretchen said starting to sob.

"This is getting childish. So maybe I did kind of violate what I said, but I like you as a friend and friend alone and I don't want to spoil that nor will I get involved in a romantic relationship where I don't feel the same. It would be dishonest to you and me." Dib said rolling his eyes.

"See you later." Gretchen said as she turned into her class, holding back tears.

"That went well..." Dib said rolling his eyes.

Tak sat in her class thinking on what had just happened. How she finally was overcome with her emotions that she had just kissed Dib and that she actually liked it. And that he had felt the same way. You're here on a redemption duty. You're not here to get involved with the natives Tak... A voice like Red's said in her head. We need this information you're gathering as a Skool student to determine if this is worth our time. You can easily be demoted or reencoded to a cleaning drone for the rest of your life... "No, that's not going to happen!" Tak said loudly.

"I'm sorry Miss Mann...?" The teacher asked.

"Sorry..." Tak said as she buried her face in her book. Maybe I should talk to Tenn about this. She seems to know a lot about human romance and maybe have an idea why I'm overcome with it. The humans here are finishing adolescence and entering breeding age so maybe they give off a pheromone or something like that that Irkens are senestive to. Tak looked down at the textbook and sighed. As the words just appeared as a dull wall of text. The others would not take too kindly to Tak having serious feelings for a human. Tenn might not care that much, as she seemed to develop an affinity for the library. "Maybe I can talk Tenn into going rouge with me and Dib and just I don't know. Miyuki this is frustrating." She said as she looked like the rest of the students who could hardly pay attention in history class.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I know this was mainly relationship drama but good stories build up tension. Hopefully I will be able to update more often as the month ends, I will be able to get more time to do things I actually want to. But anyway remember to read (well you just did) and to review! Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm


	12. Chapter 12

I don't own Invader Zim okay? I am still amazed how well many of you are taking to this fic of mine. I don't have much to say here, so enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Tak had left Skool wanting to talk to Tenn about what had just happened. She had gotten Dib's phone number before they had left that day and while she had wanted to spend more time with him, he had explained that Gaz had some errands to run, or as he had put it, a new video game to pick up, and where he had a driver's license and she only had a permit, he was the one who had to drive her. But with great assurance he swore to her that he would call her that night. Satisfied with this, Tak headed back to her base, but not before picking up Tenn who was bound to be at the library yet again. She opened the door and looked around and saw a girl with red hair in braids and glasses near a pile of books. Knowing that Tenn had made a disguise much like Tak did but built it into a pair of glasses, Tak sat across from her and stared at what she could from behind the books.

"You really are getting into this place?" Tak said.

"Yes. I've scanned lots of information to add to the database when I get back to the base." Tenn said simply.

"Yeah and I doubt that," Tak picked up a book and looked at it with disgust, "Fifty Shades of Grey will be useful to our mission." She held the book with disgust, after talking with one of the lunch ladies who was reading it after the kids had gotten their food and had told her what it was about.

"It's a great example of how desperate and naive at best human women can be lured into an abusive relationship by a handsome male with tons of money. Humans love money. And that can make one think they are in love with the person with the money when they are are putting up with abuse for greater gain." Tenn explained.

"I would know all about putting up with abuse for greater gain." Tak mumbled thinking about her time on Dirt.

"Oh humans have that kind of abuse too." Tenn said almost too enthusiastically. "According to this book by a guy with a weird name of Upton Sinclair, they put up with the most horrid treatments in their jobs till they hit rock bottom and only then revolt against their masters. Humans put up with a lot of abuse."

"Boy, Red and Purple will love that one..." Tak sighed.

"Dude, a kid fell asleep and got eaten by rats, some of the women in the main character's family resorted to prostitution, some died, boy that guy had it rough and smelled like dookie too after awhile." Tenn said.

"Tenn, you are way too into these books." Tak sighed with a smile at her bunkmate.

"So? I get all the knowledge I need here without having defective SIR units ruin my base. While you may be getting more undercover intel that is valuable, we do need more than what Earth Hi-Skools can teach if we're going to pull this mission off." Tenn said defensively as she pulled up another book with a huff and sighed.

"Sorry." Tak apologized. "I guess I remember our Academy days more than I remember your mission to Meekrob."

"Apology accepted. But I sense you wanted to speak with me about something else?" Tenn asked looking at Tak with concern.

"I kissed Dib." Tak said.

"And?" Tenn asked, not getting why this would cause her distress. "He seems like a nice guy from what you said."

"Do you not get how serious that is?" Tak yelled, causing people to look at them in the library, and causing Tenn to give her a stern look. Dropping her voice to a whisper she continued, "Look Dib is from the native planet's race, maybe even an enemy race."

"Oh I wouldn't consider humans smart enough to be our enemy. Not like the Meekrob were..." Tenn sighed.

"Well, whatever we want to call humans, enemy or just natives, it's not in an Invader or even Irkens to care about others like this! Of our own species even! It's nuts." Tak said quietly but in a frustrated tone.

"Well it may be unusual for us, that is sure, but do you LIKE it?" Tenn asked.

"No." Tak said quickly.

"You don't like Dib or you don't like your confusion for him?" Tenn asked.

"Wha-?" Tak asked dumbfounded.

"This is a redemption mission for us. That is what we were told. Now if it turns out that way is another story but I think you really need to evaluate what is really important to you. You want to be an Invader after your chance was denied." Tenn began.

"Duh." Tak said rolling her eyes.

"I totally get why you'd want to be. You were one of the best in the academy. You'd be in an elite class. But you know what happened to me. A mixed up shipping label ruined my chances at one of the prize planets in the Irken Empire's crown. I call for help and get it only to find that instead of me trying to regroup or let the SIRs malfunction all over the place and maybe take down Meekrob, my whole planet hates me. HATES ME." Tenn said.

"I don't hate you Tenn." Tak said. "That was an extraordinary situation and you made the call you thought best."

"You're one of the few who see that." Tenn said. "I could have regrouped back on Irk and found a way to improve my mission with the fact that the Meekrob would have known if I had called for help or not that Irk had targeted them. I figured that I had information and first hand experience there so I could regroup better than giving it to the next pig being led to the slaughter. But nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" Tenn said, drawing out the no with her disgust. "The normies on Irk wouldn't have that. I'm supposed to die gallantly in battle for the planet, even if dying in some noble battle is a HORRIBLE idea for the mission."

"So what does that have to do with my feelings for Dib and dislike of those feelings?" Tak asked confused.

"Your dislike of them is coming from your remaining loyalty to Irk, which fucked you maybe harder than it fucked me. You were denied your chance to even become an Invader because of something you couldn't help. It was not your fault and because of something beyond your control, because who would have known that Zim would have blown the power block, you were placed somewhere well below your status. You took this to get your chance to be something you really are." Tenn said. "But are they worth us?"

"What?" Tak asked.

"We're much better than an Empire like Irk. I mean I had the Meekrob on the ropes, almost had their key weaknesses when the SIR unit disaster happened." Tenn said. "I was almost there. I was that close" She said holding her fingers millimeters apart. "And that damned mixed up shipment ruined me."

Tak looked at Tenn. She could tell she really held that grudge against what had happened to her. And frankly, she couldn't blame her. And to hear her questions, only opened up more in Tak's mind. What really did matter to her? Herself or her empire? Tenn was right, the Irken empire did do her dirty and she was supposed to act like it wasn't an injustice, just what happened and a fact of life. Don't question it, Irk will determine your worth for talents? Meh. If they don't fit in with our military industrial complex bureaucracy, who the fuck cares? Just keep calm and carry on. Do what we say. Don't kick back. And then she was reminded of Dib. The one she had run into in the guidance counselor's office who was being subject to the planet's version of this at his age but would not let it crush his dreams or goals. He was smarter than the rest of them and was willing to explore more than they were. She looked up at Tenn and sighed. "You've given me some things to think about."

"Glad I could be of service. Now can I meet this Dib you speak so fondly of?" Tenn smiled.

"Why?" Tak asked defensively.

"Just want to see if he's all you make him out to be. I mean I know you're smart but do you have taste?" Tenn teased.

"Have you been reading the romance novels?" Tak said rolling her eyes.

"So what if I have?" Tenn blushed.

"I will never get you sometimes." Tak said.

"Well I have to head back. I'm going to check out these books and then we can talk later." Tenn said as she headed to the counter, Tak felt a vibration in her pocket.

"Dib." She smiled as she got his text.

"Awwwww isn't that sweet." Tenn smiled, carrying her bag with her. "He responded in a timely manner. He may be a keeper."

"Seriously?" Tak said as she read the message "'Just waiting outside the mall for Gaz to finish getting her games and kind of bored. Hope you made it home okay.'"

"He cares about you." Tenn teased. "Give me that."

"Hey! I'm supposed to reply!" Tak said as she jumped to get her phone back. Tenn shoved her back and then Tak grabbed the cell phone as it went off again. "Nutcase." Tak said. "I think some of those romance novels have gotten to you," She sighed as she picked up one of the books that spilled. "Alfred and Ivan, Cold War intrigue?" She read. "That's about two guys."

"So what if it is." Tenn blushed. "It's to study dynamics of taboo relationships of the past."

"Only 30 years ago." Tak said reading the date the novel was set on the back.

"Yeah when humans were one angry leader from mutual assured destruction." Tenn said blushing. "And while it may be fiction, fiction can often refect real life and be a better way to learn than old dried out textbooks. I mean I got more information from a Japanese manga that was a political allegory for interactions and history of nations than I did the standard textbooks used in schools."

"Whatever." Tak sighed and looked at her phone. "' I should be home at about 7pm tonight. Gaz wants to get some Bloaty's after this, so want to come over to my place?'"

"Ooooooooooooooooooooooh he's asking you to his house!" Tenn said. "This is a great chance for you!"

"To what?" Tak said, getting annoyed at Tenn.

"In terms of the mission, learn about dating protocols of young adults of the human species. Also to get to the home of one of the top scientists of this planet." Tenn said, getting serious.

"His dad is Professor Membrane." Tak remembered. "He did mention that his dad was one of the top scientists on this planet."

"And may have left some of his notes in his house. And with his frustration at his father, he may want to give you what he has done to spite him. You have feminine wilds, use them." Tenn said. "Unless the idea of tricking a human male who actually cares about the reject you are in your society makes you sick."

"Actually, yes it does..." Tak said.

"Well then think on what I said earlier about where do your loyalties lie, you or the Irken Empire." Tenn said seriously. "Because it seems you want something more for yourself than to just be an Invader. And there's times it's not all it's cracked up to be. Trust me."

Tak then text back that she'd meet Dib at his house then and asked for the address and headed his way. "Don't wait up for me." Tak said as she waved to Tenn.

"I will want to know how this goes Tak." Tenn said. "And if he's worth your time. And what your time is for. That will tell me what your choice of loyalty is."

"You've gotten quite philosophical since you spent all your time in the library." Tak observed.

"Well, it's quiet and gives one time to think." Tenn said. "Good luck"

"And same to you. Hope Zim or Skoodge don't see that one book you checked out." Tak teased.

"Shut up." Tenn blushed. "My reason I gave you would satisfy them. They're idiots."

"Yeah." Tak sighed. "See ya."

"See you too." Tenn waved as they went their separate ways.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Long? Short? Let me know in a review. I am hoping to be able to update more often if my allergies don't kill me and it doesn't get really humid here. Hot and humid do not mix. I can take 117 in the desert well before 85 with 60 percent humidity. Did make a passing reference to Hetalia in this when Tenn said she learned more about international history from a Japanese manga than a textbook because that is kind of the truth there. Anyway remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.


	13. Chapter 13

I don't own Invader Zim okay? I know I keep saying it but I'm surprised by how much people like this fic. I've had a lot more time since this is the summer and in my down time, so I will be able to update more than I used to and since I had finished off Minutes to Midnight and Taboo, I have two new pet IZ fics, this one and Power Vacuum. So shameless self promotion aside, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Tak headed down the road to Dib's house, waiting for him to come back from the mall. They were not given much homework and with the weekend approaching, they had plenty of time to do it anyway. Tenn's words were running though her head as she approached the bluish black house. Seeing that Dib's car was not in the driveway yet, she sat on his front porch and looked at her watch. It was a few minutes before seven so she sighed and looked around at Dib's house and the neighborhood. It seemed like a rather quiet place and that most of the neighbors just kept to themselves and minded their own business. I guess that is why Dib gets away with his paranormal research because from some of his stories, it sounded like it would get rather noisy Tak pulled out her phone and mindlessly play some of the games as she waited, hoping Dib would come home soon.

Dib turned down the street while Gaz was reading the packages of the games she had gotten. "You invite Tak over?" Gaz said looking up.

"Yeah what of it?" Dib said.

"Well she's sitting on our porch." Gaz said.

"Oh god!" Dib said looking at his watch. It was now 7:12. "You made me late Gaz!"

"No, traffic did. You know how long it takes for us to get from the mall to home when there isn't an accident." Gaz said simply. "We left with plenty of time if there wasn't a bloody four car pile up on the freeway." As Dib pulled into the driveway and turned off his car, Gaz got out, picked up her bag and headed into the house. "I don't care what you two do, as long as you are not too loud. I have a few games to beat." Gaz walked to the front door. "Hi Tak. Don't know what you see in my brother but good luck to you."

Tak just laughed as Dib looked at his sister slamming the door annoyed. "Sorry for how she acted there." Dib said. "I got some left overs from Bloaty's if you're hungry, I didn't know if you ate before you came over."

"Sounds great." Tak said as she got up and opened the door for Dib who was carrying the pizza box. "So you weren't waiting too long were you?"

"Nah." Tak said. "I had walked over here from the library after school after talking to my" Tak froze. Just what was Tenn going to be in her cover story. She didn't go to Skool and they were the same age so that would raise some questions but then it hit her. "older sister Tenn there. She's taking a break between high school graduation and college and spends almost all her time there these days."

"All her time?" Dib asked.

"Pretty much. From open to close." Tak said. "I swear they should just hire her to work there."

"So what's Tenn like?" Dib said as he opened the pizza box on the coffee table and sat down, motioning for Tak to do the same and take a piece.

"She's had a rough time in skool before she graduated." Tak said knowing she had to build the image up just right but do justice to what Tenn had been though. To not would be an insult to the closest thing to a friend she had before coming to Earth. "She did well but some people got violent with her and when she pleaded for help from the Skool with those doing that, they wouldn't listen to her and made the situation worse. So she became rather quiet and handles a lot of things herself. Wanting to stay on top of everything she spends the time before she goes back to school at the library. No one bugs her and our parents don't give her a hard time because she's still learning things." There, plausible cover story. Going to have to tell Tenn it in case she meets Dib but it covers everything. Tak thought as she picked up the piece of pizza and bit down on it, chewing at the cooling pizza. "This isn't too bad." She said.

"I can heat it up for you. I would have been home sooner but there was an accident on the freeway that kept us a little behind schedule." Dib said.

"That's fine." Tak said. "I mean I don't want you to do anything you don't want to."

"It's no big deal. Just a few minutes in the toaster over and it'll be as good as new. Well as good as a Bloaty's pizza can be." Dib said. "That's what Gaz wanted for dinner so we got it. I honestly would rather have something else but hey, I am not making her mad."

"So why is Gaz so angry all the time?" Tak asked.

"Just a lot of stuff happened to us." Dib said. "Dad is never home,"

"And what about your mother?" Tak asked.

"I don't know if I want to talk about that too much right now..." Dib said, looking more intently at the toaster over and leftover pizza reheating.

"I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories." Tak said.

"You didn't know. It's just we hardly knew her. She was killed when we were children and Dad just never really takes any time from work. Like ever. Maybe Christmas and one family day a year. So we're pretty much on our own and I think that is why Gaz is as angry as she is. There's times she does show her care, usually if it involves dooming someone."

"Dooming someone?" Tak asked.

"You say anything about this to Gaz and she will deny it and kill you but when I was in the eighth grade this popular girl made like she was in love with me and got me to go out with her for nearly a month before the Valentine's day dance when she dumped me in front of everyone and embarrassed the hell out of me. Well last thing I knew of her that night Gaz had taken her to the cafeteria dumpster and beat her with it and she was found bleeding and semi conscious in the trash. I could have sworn I had heard, 'you're now bleeding in the dumpster releasing your trash juice like the garbage you are.' She then came up to me and took me home, got me some Krazy Taco and told me everything she did. She then said, 'No one makes your life a joke like that. Only I am the one allowed to doom you.' Next day she denies the whole thing happened and said that the girl must have just made some enemies getting diet pills and other drugs underage but I know what she did and why she did it." Dib said.

"That was just so wrong." Tak said. "I mean that took a long time to get to the point."

"Some people are just evil like that." Dib said. "I'm used to it." He came into the living room and placed the pizza down. "I've never been popular or even accepted or acknowledged for how I am. I know I am smarter than everyone else and while I don't rub it in everyone's face, I am always looking to open everyone's eyes."

"And that seems to go very well." Tak said.

"You heard me talking to Miss Marshall for one." Dib said as he handed Tak a Poop cola. "I know how just to get under her skin. I'm probably going to end up in detention for sassing her eventually but I'm heading out of here once I graduate and going to college far away. Where, haven't decided but all I know is that it is away from here."

"Sounds like you're running away from your problem." Tak said.

"Maybe I am but all I know is I can't be around those who don't appreciate me." Dib said.

"But I appreciate you." Tak said sitting on his lap, staring into his eyes and kissed him deeply.

"Come with me then. You haven't picked where you want to go yet have you?" Dib asked.

"Not since we came here. Haven't thought about it much in the chaos of moving." Tak said, keeping the cover story good and believable. "Look, that's quite a big discussion when we have hardly dated yet."

"You may be right." Dib sighed. "We got our whole lives ahead of us. There'll be time for that later I guess." He then turned on the TV "Mysterious Mysteries is on, even though it's a rerun. Want to watch that?"

"Sure. I haven't seen it before." Tak said earnestly, turning around on Dib's lap to see the TV.

"Well it's about Stonehenge and the alien sightings in Britain. Main thing I remember is this one guy named Arthur Kirkland getting pretty damn angry at the suggestion of aliens and how it's as he called, 'rubbish' and the claims he used black magic in World War II even though he only looks 23... Think he's been to the pub too much." Dib said.

Tak watched the show, laughing at the blonde delusional guy when he came on and Dib rolled his eyes. "What's wrong, I thought you said he was something you remembered."

"Yes because it hurts the cause of paranormal investigation." Dib said. "If it's just drunks or mentally disturbed corn eating hobos seeing this stuff, people aren't going to think it's real and dismiss it even though you have all the evidence RIGHT THERE! Then your dad calls you crazy and won't let you study what you want and keeps trying to push you into 'real science'" Dib said in a voice that was mocking his father. "Even though historically a lot the things he does was considered bullshit years ago and totally implausible. I mean for science to evolve you have to push the bounds and seek new things that may be out there. Just because folklore talks of something does not mean it doesn't exist. It is just what someone who doesn't know what is going on claims to explain something they cannot explain. And in cases like that you are going to draw on what you know." Dib said. "And I would think people who lived in the hills of West Virginia could tell between a barn owl in shadow and an actual 10 foot monster."

"Where did that reference come from?" Tak asked.

"Oh just one of the stories I have been following recently. The Flatwoods Monster. Sighted in 1952 in Flatwoods West Virginia. The reports may have been written off as nothing but drunk ignorant hillbillies seeing things but I think they were onto something with their report. Now if it is a one time thing, I don't know. But sounds like it would be a genuine alien sighting. And no one pushed further to discovering what it could be and gave a piss poor excuse like weather balloons or swamp gas." Dib said. Tak smiled. She loved his passion and how he could get worked up on something he cared about and wanted to prove.

"What would you do if you did find an alien?" Tak asked.

"I actually... don't know..." Dib sat up and looked around.

"So are you in it for the chase or the knowledge?" Tak asked.

"Both?" Dib shrugged. "The chase is fun, it is exciting. But I cannot say I wouldn't love the vindication of being proven right. And as for what I would do if I found an alien, would depend on what they wanted to do I guess. If they're just visiting and wanting to learn more, I'd gladly share everything I knew with them if they did the same for me."

"And if they were hostile? Like wanting to invade the planet?" Tak asked.

"Destroy them. I have to protect this place and I know of some of my dad's secret military super weapon projects. His username is so ego filled as IAMMEMBRANE in all caps and you'd think he'd have a stronger password than BETHEBRAIN in all caps. I mean it's the motto of his show. A decent hacker could have gotten in. Better than just password I guess." Dib said.

"You hacked your dad's computers?" Tak said incredulously. "Being a bad boy aren't we?"

"I was trying to delete an email from the Skool when I broke in. But while I was there, I did want to see his projects and since he doesn't let us get to know him better by coming home more often, who could blame his son for being curious..." Dib said with a devilish grin. "Everyone knows he isn't the best of parents and that would be such a forgiveable excuse."

"Well now." Tak smirked. "That's something to know."

"Just don't tell anyone. He might change it and I still have the rest of this year to get through." He laughed.

"I won't tell a soul." Tak said as they went back to watching Mysterious Mysteries. So you got his father's log in inforantion for his job. He's working on military super weapons. The Tallest would love to hear this. And he said he'd destroy any alien who threatened the planet. I'd say stealing super weapon plans counts as that. But he'd want to befriend peaceful ones. Why are you having a conflict of interest here? You know what the Armada would want you to do! Tak thought as she stared at the pizza.

"Something wrong Tak?" Dib asked.

"Just trying to figure out how hungry I am." She smiled. Now who do you want to serve more? You or the Armada? A voice that sounded like Tenn's said in her mind.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. So now Tak is at a crossroads as she was given Professor Membrane's log in to all his records. So where does her loyalty lie? Well that will be revealed later. And yes, the Flatwoods Monster is a real sighting that was blamed on a Barn Owl in shadow. Sorry but like Dib I think that is a cop out. You live in the woods you know the sound of an owl. And I'd love to see the shadow trick that makes it look like the monster. I'd suggest you guys look it up. Other than that I don't have much else here. Remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.


	14. Chapter 14

I don't own Invader Zim okay? I've got a lot more time on my hands lately so I am trying to get better with my updates. Other than that I don't have much else to say here so enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Tak lay back on the couch in Dib's arms as another episode came on and she ate a piece of the pizza. I could get used to this. She thought as she looked up at Dib, seeing that this episode was filled with less crackpots in his mind, the discussion that came from this was less of a rant and actually more intellectually stimulating. They had discussed what the show talked about until Tak looked over and saw the clock. "Oh god, it's 10 at night!" She jumped.

"I can take you home." Dib offered.

"I'll be fine. I don't want to disturb you and I can handle myself if someone wanted to hurt me." Tak said. She wasn't about to let Dib drive her to the base which was the "home" she would be staying at as he would put a lot of things together at that point and she wasn't going to tell him her true identity just yet. It had seemed that he didn't care on if she was an alien but what she was going to do. And with what the planned mission was, that would count as 'bringing harm to the planet' in Dib's eyes and she did not want to have him feel betrayed and hurt by her. He was just too relatable and likeable. "My dad is quite protective and will shoot anyone on sight."

"Oh. Yet he doesn't mind you coming home late?" Dib asked.

"No." Tak said. "It's weird but he's very stranger danger." She said taking a catch phrase she had heard around.

"Oh. Well, I had a lovely time with you. Sorry for showing up late." Dib blushed.

"It wasn't that late, and you said it was traffic. Not like you can control that." Tak said as she left. "I'll call you tomorrow. I am not waiting until Monday to see you again." She smiled as she waved.

"I can't wait." Dib smiled as he waved her off. "You sure now?"

"I can handle myself." She smiled and headed back to the base. "I don't need you getting worried and getting yourself hurt by my crazy family."

"You've seen mine or at least how it is. I doubt yours is crazier." Dib laughed. "Talk to you later."

"You'd be surprised." Tak said as she headed down the road and began to walk back to the hideout.

Walking through the city, she stared up at the sky and sighed. Can't see the stars too well she thought as she sighed. It was a conflict that kept nagging at her as she finally headed back to the base and went inside. It looked obvious that it was a spaceship that had a poor house facade placed on it, "Let me guess, Zim and Skoodge were in charge of this. Humans will find it." but from what she could tell from the humans she had run into, there were very few people who would think anything of it. "Who am I kidding. Only Dib and Gaz, possibly, would see that this isn't what it is supposed to be." Tak had placed her hand on the scanner and it let her in.

"Tak!" Tenn said running up and hugging her. "You must tell it all to me! How was he?"

"Dib?" Tak asked.

"Duh." Tenn said.

"Well I told him you were my older sister who is taking a break between high school and college who spends all her time at the library." Tak informed Tenn.

"Okay, I can keep up with that story." Tenn said. "But how did the date go? Find out anything?"

"Well actually I did." Tak said.

"Oh Tak, I didn't think you would do that on a first date!" Tenn laughed as they headed into their cabin.

"What?" Tak asked. "Just what in Miyuki's name are you talking about?"

Tenn bent down and pulled out a romance novel from the bag she had her library books. "It's like these books."

"Wolfman Bare Chest?" Tak said as she looked at it. "Is this what humans use for a guide for mating courtship?"

"Some do, I guess..."Tenn said.

"Well as far as I know Dib is not a wolfman so I don't think anything you would be able to obtain from that book would be useless." She quickly leafed through passages of the book and reading the graphic prose of mating in some chapters and the flowery writing she shuddered and threw it at Tenn. "You cannot seriously be interested in these? If they are a guide they are highly inaccurate from what I can tell."

"So what did you do with Dib?" Tenn teased.

"Had some pizza he had brought home, watched Mysterious Mysteries with him and discussed what they may be. Miyuki help you if they were featuring something that he thought was full of crap. I had never seen someone rant and take such offense at a suggestion of something being fake."

"Like you." Tenn said.

"Excuse me?" Tak said jumping up.

"I have seen how you got with the Tallest when any one of them even slightly implied you are of a lower posisition than you really should be and that you deserved to be stuck on Dirt." Tenn said.

"I will have you know that it is the fact they are here I just don't kill Zim for doing that to me. This whole planet, Irk I mean, is full of nothing but idiotic fools who do not know greatness when they see it and will blame you for whatever they want be it your fault or not. It's all about their convince and if that gets in the way tough shit. I deserve better than being used on a second tier mission the Tallest are using to get away from Irk while the planet back there goes to shit." Tak yelled as Tenn smiled. She then remembered some of the rants Dib had given like during the Stonehenge episode. "Oh shit, you're right."

"Nothing wrong with that." Tenn said. "The Empire wants those who will do whatever they say not get the job done. Like when I got the mixed up package that ruined me and they wouldn't help me even though I WAS SO FUCKING CLOSE TO HAVING MEEKROB!" If I could just retreat and regroup I would have HAD THOSE ENGERY ASIAN FOOD SHOE ALIENS!"

"And Dib and I am the one with ranting problems..." Tak rolled her eyes. "I did get a valuable piece of information that we could use."

"And that is?" Tenn said. "What's his horoscope sign?"

"Scorpio, birthday November 18." Tak said as she saw Tenn looking at a magazine called 'Gregarious',

"So according to this article, 'What sign is your man' it says that 'Being ruled by Mars, named after the god of war, he'll protect his loved ones with everything he's got if he has to. It's rare to find someone as dedicated, fierce, passionate, and loyal as a Scorpio in love! He's a very indulgent sign when it comes to food, drinking, and sex—any kind of pleasure, really.' Ooooooooh they make that stuff sound like fun in here Tak." Tenn smiled as Tak grabbed the magazine and hit Tenn with it.

"Are you the second best Invader in the academy after me or just a teenage human girl getting into her sexually starved mother's romantic fantasy novels?" Tak said seriously.

"Sorry..." Tenn said looking at Tak. "I'll get serious. So what did you find?"

"Well his father is Professor Membrane. I am sure you've seen something of him." Tak said.

"I actually checked out his autobiography I, Membrane. So Dib is related to him huh?" Tenn said opening the chapter he was on. Maybe I just haven't gotten to the chapter he talks about his family. He did mention that he had gotten socks instead of uranium 238, a radioactive element, for Christmas as a child, he graduated top of his class, has his own lab and how he got his show in the 1990s after a more edgy version of Bill Nye the Science Guy was demanded, how he doesn't believe in mere mortal laws on things regarding research as science does not know man's morality going into a huge rant about how important beneficial discoveries have been made by evil people's research but his son and daughter aren't mentioned here."

"You have got to be kidding me." Tak said as she took the book "He says his first thought was 'I will poop now' but he doesn't mention his children? I think he'd be proud of that, a lot human parents are. But looking at that rant, I see where Dib gets it from." She sighed. "No, I got this information by accident. His father has some top secret contacts for the military of this planet, or at least nation and Dib had cracked into his father's files. I could log into it and see what he is working on if I wanted to."

"Well, let's try it." Tenn said as she pulled out a laptop. "Snuck this off a human. Wiped it clean, you wouldn't believe the amount of garbage was on this thing, and I use it when I need to use human technology to get into human technology."

"See, that is the Tenn I like hanging around, the smart sneaky soldier, not the romance obessesed annoying human girl." Tak laughed.

"How do you know I am not faking it?" Tenn said.

"Being smart or being annoying?" Tak said as Tenn smacked her. "If you were faking the romance obsession you wouldn't bring it up to me in private."

"Point taken." Tenn said. "So this is Membrane Labs employee log in, you said you have Dib's father's credentials?"

"Yep. Username IAMMEMBRANE all caps, password BETHEBRAIN all caps." Tak said as she hit the enter key and opened was indeed what Dib said. Contracts, plans, emails that were checked and left unread. She looked at the trash emails and smiled. "Oh I see what you did there"

"Huh?" Tenn asked.

"He deleted some emails the school sent to his father." Tak explained. "Although I did hear about this. She saw the school's email address and went to the spam folder. "Add address to spam filter..." and she typed in the school's email address. "There now it will filter school emails as spam and they will never be seen and it is just such an easy accident from what some people say."

"Naughty Tak!" Tenn said playfully smacking her. "How dare you prevent your boyfriend from getting into the trouble he rightfully earned!" She added with a wink to show that she wasn't being serious. "But messing with his email aside, just what is he working on?" Tenn took the laptop and clicked on the "projects" "You have got to see this!"

" Hmmmmm..." Tak said looking over the project list "'Perpetual energy rifle, never needs reloading', 'Mechwarrior suits', 'AI strategic systems with blocks from becoming self aware or have access to nukes without two-step authentication...' This isn't that impressive. We have had stuff like this on Irk for awhile. I mean you were supposed to get a Mechadoomer which seems a lot like what Membrane has here."

"Maybe not for us to commit technological espionage and theft on, but to let us know what we'd face from humans." Tenn said. "This is very important information. What are you going to do with it?"

Tak took the laptop, scrolled to the log out button, clicked it and handed it back to Tenn. "That. I showed you what I know. And I trust you will do with it, what I will."

"Which is?" Tenn asked.

"Nothing. Yet at least. Most I am willing to do in that man's account is what I did which is nothing more than what Dib did." Tak explained.

Tenn nodded. "I see. More loyal to yourself." She smiled. "I won't say a thing either. Unless I have to."

"Deal." Tak smiled.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. "Gregarious" is just a synonym for "Cosmopolitan" a trashy magazine that I think Tenn in romance novel fangirl mode would get wrapped up in. Dib's birthday is something I made up after seeing an AMV a LONG time ago (2007) and having his image used for Scorpio on "Your Horoscope for Today". No real meaning there and if you are a Gravity Falls fan, you'll see the reference I made. Anyway besides that, remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.


	15. Chapter 15

I don't own Invader Zim okay? I know I haven't updated this as soon as I'd have liked, other projects got my mind, so sue me. Anyway, enough if this A/N, on with the fic!

Tak lay back on her bunk, thinking about what was going on. Other than Tenn developing a weird fascination with romance novels. She had access to very valuable information for the mission and ways to get much more. It would not be hard for her to get into the rest of the computers and databases at Membrane Labs with this. She could only assume that Professor Membrane was one of the top users so any traces that would be found wouldn't be that suspicious, and that was if she used the laptop that Tenn had stolen. However she knew that eventually the Tallest would get frustrated. Not only were they lightyears from the things that they had loved in a de facto exile after managing to piss off the whole Empire and putting this mission on as a farce to either come back with favor or to kill off four of the most infamously pitiful Invaders or at least so called Invaders and be able to say they served the Empire that way. "Idiots. The whole freaking planet..." She said as she rolled over and saw Tenn. Well Tenn can be obnoxious sometimes but not an idiot Tak noticed she was reading that "Cold War Intrigue" novel she had checked out from the library and laughed slightly. I know that is not for studying the planet or whatever you want to call it to me... but hey, when you are at your job, you are good at it. Tak almost fell asleep when a call was heard over the intercom.

"INVADERS! MAIN BAY PRONTO!" Red called over the intercom.

"OW!" Tak yelled as she got up, hit her head on the ceiling above her bunk and noticed Tenn fall face first on her novel.

"Just what does he want?" Tenn asked as she marked the place she was reading. "I had gotten to a pretty damn good scene in Berlin there..."

"Ummmmmm...okay... what do you mean by good?" Tak asked. "Like an action filled spy duel?" Being at least trained as an Invader, espionage was something she had known about, even if humans would't be doing it with death lasers.

"Well... I guess one could call it that..." Tenn said a slight blush rising on her cheeks.

"Okay so not literally so I don't want to know any more." Tak shuddered. They headed to the main hall of the base where Red and Purple were waiting where Skoodge was standing at their feet and Zim was tied up to a pole. "Just what is this all about?" She sighed.

"You're lucky we need you Tak or you'd have been shot out of the airlock a long way ago for your attitude lady." Red said.

"Yeah, only Tenn is the one with a legitimate complaint towards the Empire. I mean we have a lot on Meekrob from her that we could use one day." Purple said as Tak growled under her breath, fists clenched in range. It wasn't her fault she couldn't get out to take the idiot responsible was strapped to one of the poles over there and she couldn't do a thing to him unless she wanted the Tallest to harm her. Even on this mission, she was still being blocked on every turn by members of the system that placed her on Dirt to begin with. Even the fact that some gardeners called the dirt of this planet 'earth' kind of stuck under her skin. It's like she never even escaped that fate.

"I am so sorry for my insolence my Tallest..." Tak said laying the saccharine tone on think hoping they wouldn't notice she was sassing them. They usually did not as any form of flattery was seen as complements to them. They seemed to lack the ability to detect sarcasm.

"That's better." Red smiled.

"Why is Zim tied up there?" Tenn asked looking over at him.

"He was being annoying." Red said as if it was obvious.

"He's always annoying." Tak growled.

"Well he was being more so trying to show off his new disguise. Glasses, a scarf and a hat. That's it. Looked really stupid." Purple said.

"I'll say and while humans are not the brightest of the species out there, I think they would notice something wrong with Zim if he went out of here in that disguise." Tak sighed.

"Exactly." Red said. "Now the purpose of this meeting is to tally our progress so far. It was been about a week since we had landed and I want to know what you had found out. Especially you two," He looked at Tak and Tenn. "You've been doing lots of research and observation lately and we need to know what you have found."

Tenn stepped forward. "I have scanned the books of human knowledge that I had scanned from the library. It is quite big and there are many books and since the place is not open all the time, nor to keep up appearances of a young college aged woman I do have to leave from time to time and it is good for the equipment for me to give it a break as some of the pages are old and faded. I will upload them to the database here tomorrow afternoon."

"Good. I guess..." Purple said. "Tak?"

She gulped, knowing she didn't want to tell everything that Dib had told her but she had to give them something to make them think she was making progress on the mission. "I have been studying human social interactions and have caught the charm of a young man whose father has access to Earth's top technology." Tenn look horrified at Tak, but Tak continued knowing just what to say to the Tallest to get them off her case. "But I have yet to get into the systems. He simply did not know his father's lab's security. But he told me where to start and I found his father's log in page but there was no information there."

"Well it's something." Red said. "And I guess it will take longer to get human social interactions better than just their knowledge." he admitted in slight defeat. "Good work you two."

"Phewwww..."Tak sighed.

"What was that?" Purple asked.

"Just tired. Keeping young human males on the cusp of manhood happy is exhausting work." Tak said and at this implication, Purple and Red shuddered and ignored her.

"See my romance novels taught you something..." Tenn smirked.

"Shut up." Tak sighed.

"Well we have had Skoodge and Zim..." Red looked over at Zim's smile. "Mainly Skoodge work on the outside of the base so that if any humans come by they will think this is nothing more than a cabin or house in the woods."

"If you call that a disguise..." Tak sighed.

"What was that Tak?" Red asked.

"Nothing. Nothing at all my Tallest." Tak said as she smiled back at Red.

"Okay. Now over the next phase of the mission, I want you and Tenn to keep what you are doing up. Make sure you can get some good information out of that boy's father. If he is a top scientist as you claim Tak then he will have access to all sorts of information that we will need. But we will need to find out what resources this planet has as well. If we are flying all the way across the galaxy to take it on this completely specialized and super duper team..." Red said looking at Zim, Skoodge, Tak and Tenn. Zim and Skoodge looked overjoyed at being addressed like that but Tak and Tenn hid their scoffs at the title. They sensed they were being used. "Then we will need a lot to bring back to Irk. This is a planet that is hardly been explored before and the only reports we have are from the Greys who are notorious for vandalizing and experimenting with the local wildlife."

"So why don't we ask them what they know?" Tak sassed.

"Maybe you should do that Tak." Red said, getting annoyed with their attitude. But last time I read one of their crop circles it was nothing but 'Fuck You' in their language and don't get them started on what they know on the wildlife from Earth. They mess with it, fuse it to others and explore butts more than any race rightfully should. And that's if you get one that is willing to talk to you."

"Point taken." Tak said. Although they talked about things like that on Mysterious Mysteries. Wonder what Dib thinks about that theory. I don't think he'd be too thrilled but who knows.. Tak wondered. However with that wonder she realized it was not to get information about the mission but to pick his brain about what he thought about it.

"Anyway, to search for resources, we will need Skoodge and ..." Red shuddered. "Zim..."

"I will serve my Tallest to the best of my ability sirs! I will not let you down!" Zim tried to salute from his tied up position on the post.

"That'll be a first..." Purple nudged Red laughing.

"And Tak, Tenn, just keep doing what you are doing but I want progress reports. We can't send Skoodge to his death because he was denied vital information." Red said.

"What about Zim?" Tenn asked.

"Meh." Purple sighed, moving his claw up and down to show he really didn't care either way what happened to Zim.

"Well we will start in the morning on this part of the mission. Zim and Skoodge will go into the woods and see if there is anything there we can use. Dismissed." Red said as they headed to their separate bunks.

Tak headed back in silence, stewing over how Red had treated her. Like nothing. Like she wasn't as skilled as she was and like she was like some loser like Zim who had technically become an Invader but was reencoded. However he had still somehow passed the test and she wasn't even given a chance to take it because of issues not her fault. Her academy grades would have shown otherwise. She looked over at Tenn who had much a similar issue. She did everything right and was good at her job and proved to be a most valuable Invader. Until once again, something beyond her control had taken all she had worked for and the titles she had earned before that away from her. While she did have valuable access to things that would help the Irkens immensely in their mission, she could become a double agent easily. She had someone who knew a lot and could use the information that she could give them. If she could help Dib to convince his father to look at this then she could help humanity and pay back Irk for how they did her in kind. Once back in their bunks, Tenn picked up her book and began reading at the sordid part. Noticing her eyes grow large and greedy as she savored every word on the page, Tak sighed. She got up and smacked Tenn upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Tenn said.

"I need your full attention and a yaoi romance novel at the 'good part'" Tak said with air quotes. "is not having your full attention."

"I'm thinking of using Dib." Tak said.

"In bed, for Irk or what?" Tenn said.

"One. Lay off all romance novels as they are filling your head with gross stuff. Two, after how Red treated me in there, you think I want to help Irk?" Tak said.

"True. So how are you using Dib?" Tenn said.

"Through his father. I will show him the Irken technology we have and how it works. Use what we know to help the humans get to a respectable level of technology." Tak said.

"They should be farther ahead than they are." Tenn pulled out a history book of the 1800s. Looking at progression from 1800 to 1899 they had made great strides. Similar ones from 1900 to 1999. But after 2000 it all seems to stagnate. Why? I don't know."

"Greed. Humans are about as greedy as Irkens can be." Tak said.

"But you could open up so many new markets with this new technology and humans can be very entrepreneurial. Hell they made Health Care a business. They need water but they sell it in bottles at stores that are nothing but tap water. They are on our level with scuzzy businesses so they would find something to do with things like this. And they really don't care about consequences of their actions either. They'd want this." Tenn said. "So it seems counterintuitive to sedate your greed by being happy with as big a dud of technology as humans have now."

"But many are easily manipulated. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't see through Zim's dumb disguise." Tak sighed. "But back to what I was saying. I will hand our technology over to Dib and hand it to his father as well."

Tenn looked at Tak with concern. "This may mean exposing you are an alien to him. Are you ready?"

"What's the worst that can happen? Nothing I can't handle. Besides I know what they have and can fight back. But there is only one thing I know," She sighed sitting on the floor looking over at Tenn.

"Which is?" Tenn asked, sitting at Tak's level.

"I can't keep this up." Tak said.

"No, you can't." Tenn said hugging Tak. "But can I meet Dib first? As you sister you said I was?"

"Sure. Just don't talk about some of the weird stuff you read in those books." Tak said looking at the romance novels.

"No promises. But I'll try." Tenn smiled.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I honestly don't have too much to say in this A/N other than it is too freaking hot and humid for there to be no good sized cooling storms in the forecast so to wrap this one up, I'll say remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.


	16. Chapter 16

I don't own Invader Zim okay? I know it has been a little while since I updated but things are quiet for the moment so I'll try to get some writing done. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

The light came into the base stirring Tak awake. Irkens didn't need hardly as much sleep as humans, but it was always good to recharge. Noting that it was Saturday and she did promise to call Dib in the morning, she got out her communicator phone and called him. It's past 9, it should be a decent hour. She thought as she noticed it was 10:34 in the morning on the clock. The phone rang and a muffled voice was on the other line. "Mmmmmhph?" Dib replied.

"Are you okay Dib?" Tak asked as Tenn walked in and looked over at her.

Dib sat up and rubbed his eyes and adjusted his phone. "I'm fine. I don't normally get up so early on a Saturday."

"It's past 10:30 in the morning." She sighed. "We are in class now during the week."

"Yeah but they have us get up at ungodly hours. I would do so much better on some of the earlier classes if I could start the day later. Good thing college is much more flexible on that. I don't plan to take any class that starts before 11." Dib commented.

"Which would require you to get up at 10 at least if you wanted to have decent time to get ready." Tak teased back.

"You have a point." Dib laughed. "So, what do you want to do today?" He said changing the subject.

"Hey Tak, ask if I can come along? Please? I want to meet Dib so much!" Tenn said jumping up and down.

"Calm down, I'm still talking to him!" Tak said.

"Huh?" Dib asked.

"Oh my sister Tenn was asking if she could come with me to meet you. She's gotten really weird by staying at the library all the time." Tak added with a glare towards Tenn. Tenn pouted as Dib spoke up.

"Didn't you say she was spending her days at the library before she goes to college to keep up with her knowledge?" He asked.

"She is, she is." Tak said, scowling at Tenn and continued to embarrass her. "But without any real structure or assignments her interests wander a lot. She somehow found herself in the romance section. And while she was a brilliant student in high school, the fact she has been left to her own devices means that she won't stay focused. I should bring over some of what she is reading. You'll get a real laugh out of them." Tenn blushed and mouthed 'please Miyuki no!' Tak smirked at the torture she was putting Tenn through. Sure, she would let Tenn meet Dib but at the same time, Dib was hers. She wanted no one else thinking anything like she did about him.

"Nah, no need to embarrass your sister like that." Dib said as Tak frowned. She really wanted to embarrass Tenn. "I do have some sympathy to her a little. I know what it's like to have your younger sibling torment you like that." He laughed. "But if teasing about her choices in reading material is as bad as you get Tak, you're already a way nicer younger sibling than Gaz is."

"Yes, I've seen how she treats you. That's awful." Tak noted.

"Well, she's…." Dib paused. He didn't want to make Gaz seem horrible. "Got her own way of expressing feelings. I told you about Gaz beating up that one girl who made a fool out of me."

"Yeah you did. I guess she isn't all bad." Tak sighed.

Dib put on his glasses and dug a pair of pants, t-shirt and underpants out of his drawer. "Listen, how about you meet me at the Romero Memorial Mall at 12:30. I have to get up and get dressed and I'll meet you at the Monroe Penny's entrance."

"I'm new here Dib." Tak said exasperated.

"There's a big blue M and P above the doors. Can't miss it. Haven't changed the logo since 1978." Dib said. "And Tenn can come too. If she behaves herself." Dib teased.

"Okay. See you then." Dib smiled as he took his clothes into the bathroom to find the door shut and the sound of water running. "Gaz are you in there?" The sound of death metal playing told him. "Okay I hear Five Finger Death Punch. You're in there." Dib sighed as he stood by the bathroom door, looking around, waiting for his sister to finish up, praying for once she would leave some hot water for him. Getting annoyed, he turned and pounded on the door. "Gaz, hurry up! I'm meeting Tak and her sister at the mall at 12:30 and I don't want to smell like hot pirate ass and Cheetos!" At this the water stopped. Gaz wrapped a towel around herself and opened the door.

"Excuse me?" She asked Dib, water dripping off the claw like hair.

"You heard me. I'm meeting Tak at the mall at 12:30 and I need a shower too." Dib sighed.

"Just that metaphor…hot pirate ass and Cheetos?" She asked confused. "Just where did you pull that one out of?"

"I don't know, first thing that came out of my mouth. Now can I go in there?" Dib pleaded with Gaz. She blocked the doorway.

"I will, if you take me to the mall as well. I need some new games that just came out. After that issue with Iggins I learned to preorder and pick it up after the midnight release. Much more peaceful."

"Why not just order online?" Dib asked.

"Postal service can be unreliable." Gaz said. "Now get out of my way. I have to get dressed." She said as she shoved Dib and headed into her room to get dressed.

Dib turned on the water and found out that it was not only his interesting choice of metaphor for stinking that was the reason Gaz turned off the water. She used all the hot water again. Well at least the improvements Dad made to the water heater will have it heat up quicker than most others…. Dib thought as he washed himself. Normally not one to like getting up before noon on a weekend, he was delighted to be taking Tak to the mall. Sure, he would have to drive his sister to and possibly from, and put up with her sister, but this place was one out in public away from school and they were in charge. Will she let me kiss her? God what am I? 12? She must want to connect on a deeper level? Should I go to the pharmacy first? No one would believe that I would need those things…. No! You just met her! Why are you thinking THAT? Gross. But what if she wants to? No, Tak isn't that kind of girl…. Dib thought as he slowly washed up, dried off and got dressed. Gaz was standing by the door drinking a coffee energy drink tapping her foot. "What took you so long in there?" Gaz said as she walked into the garage with Dib, got in the car and he backed out.

"Nothing much." Dib smiled.

"Tak isn't 'nothing much.'" Gaz said.

"How did you know? I didn't say anything too loudly did I?" Dib blushed.

"You said you were meeting Tak at the mall. I do not want to know what you were doing in the shower if you are blushing like that when I mention her. But hey, we all have needs." Gaz shrugged. "At least in the shower you clean up after you are done so I don't smell it."

"Gross, how do you know all that anyway?" Dib shuddered. "And I don't do anything like that anyway!" Gaz may only be a year younger than him but she was still his little sister and his little sister knowing this much about the physical side of love and sex was concerning to him.

"It's alright, and natural, we all have urges we need to address." Gaz said, noticing how embarrassed her brother was getting and making it worse on Dib.

"Seriously Gaz, where do you pick this up? I've seen the games you play. They're mainly supernatural murder and mayhem." Dib pleaded as he looked around at the traffic on the way to the mall.

"You have never been in the girl's locker room in gym class and I hope you never do. They are sluts. And open mouthed about their escapades. You pick stuff up." She said.

"I don't know, the amount of body spray used in the boy's locker room could be considered a war crime." Dib said. "Thank god I'm fast or else I would be in huge trouble in gym class."

"Your paranormal investigation can get quite physical. At least making you more agile is an upside." Gaz said as Dib turned into the mall parking lot, parking in the Monroe Penny's part of the mall.

"Are you going to need a ride back?" Dib asked.

"I think I'll take the bus this time back." Gaz smiled as she saw Tak with a red haired girl who wore a black dress shirt, long red skirt and boots with glasses. "Does Tak have a sister?"

"Yeah. Tenn needed to get out and was begging to come with." Dib said as he walked with Gaz to the store.

"Younger sister?" Gaz asked.

"Older actually." Dib sighed.

"Good luck with that." Gaz said as she walked past Tak and Tenn. "And good luck with my brother you two. He can bore you to death with his ranting."

"I do not rant! I swear Gaz you have been trying to embarrass me all day. Was it something I said or does my existence with a girl I actually like get under your skin somehow? Because if it does, you really need to get yourself checked out for something. It's not right." And at this he noticed that Gaz had already walked away and into the mall.

"You were ranting." Tak laughed as Tenn giggled as well.

"I tend to do that huh?" Dib blushed. He turned to the red headed girl in glasses. "So this is Tenn?"

"Yep, I'm Tak's big sister Tenn!" Tenn said grabbing her hand shaking it up and down. "She's spoken so highly of you." Tak shrugged.

"And she of you. Nice to meet you." Dib said as his stomach growled. "Want to go inside? I haven't eaten anything yet."

"Me neither." Tenn said as she grabbed Dib's hand and led him in. Tak laughed as Dib looked back pleading for help from her. Tenn ran through the store as if she knew here everything was until she headed out the door that lead from the Monroe Penny's store and into the main mall itself, with Tak running to keep up with her 'sister' and Dib. I know you wanted to meet Dib Tenn but are you sure you don't have a thing for him too? Tak thought as Tenn sat down on a bench by the fountain and let go of Dib's hand. "So where's the food?" She asked.

"Follow me." Dib said and he took Tak's hand.

"I'm sorry for what Tenn did." Tak said. "She's been through a lot."

"Meh, she seems to have some fun to her." Dib said as Tenn smiled. "If you two ladies will oblige me; I'll take you to the food court. My treat."

"Why that would be lovely." Tak said as she took Dib's hand before Tenn could and they headed to the food court. Dib got a burrito and some churros from Krazy Taco Express, and Tak got a few tacos as well. Tenn stood around and looked at the wide variety of choices that she could choose from.

Kentucky Fried Panda…. why would a Chinese food place be named after a US state? I can't imagine panda is that good…. Delicious Weenie…. McMeaties…She saw the last stand "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She said as she sat down under a table.

"What's the matter?" Dib asked.

"Meekrob r us…." Tenn said.

"The Thai food place?" Dib asked.

Tak had to cover up. She did intend to tell Dib just what she and Tenn really were but not in public. "Don't think much of it. Tenn had a bad experience with Meekrob and is kind of scared of it now."

"You like tacos?" Dib asked. "You sit here with Tak and I'll get you some. Make it easy on you."

"That would be fine." Tenn said as she sat beside Tak. "I'm sorry. I just never thought I would see that word again. I didn't know it was a type of food here. I probably ruined it with Dib for you."

"It's fine." Tak said. "I can think of something else to work around this. He's not the key to it all anyway. And I was thinking of telling the Tallest to go screw anyway."

"Sorry to overhear but no you didn't." Dib said as he placed the tray of tacos in front of Tenn. "And what did you need me for anyway?"

"Nothing right now." Tak said. "I was hoping you'd go to the homecoming dance with me!" She said covering up the things she said into something inconspicuous. And she did recall what he said about if he found a hostile alien. She did not want to be seen as that hostile alien when she could connect with him and found he cared about her. It was Irk that mistreated her not Dib.

"Well homecoming isn't my thing but if you want to go, then I guess I would go with you. And Tenn, I didn't know about your bad experience with Meekrob. There's other malls we can go to if you want to. I have my own car."

"It's no big deal. I have to learn to deal with my past trauma anyway." Tenn said as she bit into the taco. "And for food court food this isn't bad. Tak was right, you are thoughtful." Dib blushed and Tak smiled.

Tak smiled. She now had to go to homecoming, but it would be with Dib and he was sure to make what seemed like a petty high school sports celebration a little more fun. And he was putting up with how Tenn was acting so he was worth it to her. "After this, I guess we have to find a homecoming outfit then." And maybe there in the chaos and noise I tell you my secret….

"I guess…." Dib laughed awkwardly.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. The inspiration for the mall and anchor store name came from the original Dawn of the Dead. Monroeville Mall in Pittsburgh PA and George Romero. I will try to update sooner but who knows how things go these days. Anyway remember to read (well you just did) and review. Ciao for now,

Otherrealmwriter

Aka

Realm.


	17. Chapter 17

If you don’t know by chapter 17 that I do not own Invader Zim, you must have the brainworms. I know I have been working on other projects more than this one, but I will update this. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Zim looked around the base with a disgruntled noise. So far Tak and Tenn had been able to leave the station to do what they called research, but so far, at least with what he could find with the basic permissions he had, he couldn’t see that they had anything that they didn’t already assume coming to this planet in the first place. He knew that humans were inferior in intelligence to them. There had been no real mention of them in the galaxy, other than what other species, usually the Greys, had observed and most of the Grey’s observation was through rectal probing. Not much help. The Venutians used humans to help their declining fertility rates and all had told that they were stupid, violent and hadn’t gotten much farther than their moon. Sure, they had sent probes into deep space, at least deep by their definition. These probes hardly left their solar system. Tak and Tenn were sure to have found what would be the key to their destruction a long time ago!

“Hey Zim!” Skoodge said as he headed out of his bunk into the cafeteria to get something to eat. “Whatcha doing?” 

Zim quickly recalled Tak and Tenn’s disguises for when they left the base and quickly made something for him and Skoodge to wear, which was just two pairs of contacts that made their red eyes look like a human’s and black wigs. He had had enough of being trapped to the base. He only had gotten out to help construct the disguise, which he recalled Tak laughing about on time when she had returned from that human ‘Hi-Skool’. He was just as good, if not better Invader than her! After all, he was actually a part of Operation Impending Doom 1. She didn’t even get to take the test to even become an Invader in the first place. He destroyed a planet. Skoodge had conquered Blorch. Zim thought that if he had to have anyone with him when he went to conquer these idiots, it would be Skoodge. Not Tak, who never passed her test, and Tenn whose base was destroyed by SIR units. “We’re heading out. If Tak and Tenn can, then we can too.” 

“But we’re assigned to the base here. The Tallest told me to monitor Earth broadcasts for anything good. Same with their information sharing networks. I have found a very enjoyable game called ‘Flappy Rooster’ that the humans love to play.” Skoodge noted.

“Zim needs no Flappy Roosters! We need to get there. Catch humans, enslave them and then they’ll tell us everything they know!” Zim said as he put the feeble disguise on Skoodge. “Perfect. You’re just as ugly as they are!”

“But going outside is Tak and Tenn’s job. Not ours.” Skoodge said.

“We’re better than them and you know it.” Zim said. “We both brought planetary destruction. Tenn wussed out and Tak isn’t even really an Invader.” 

“But Tak was the best in the academy. And Tenn was on Meekrob, a very tough planet. Tak says she only didn’t make the test because the door was stuck.” Skoodge said. He knew Tak and Tenn wouldn’t do anything they weren’t ordered to and were very good at the skills needed on the mission. To him, if the Tallest had trusted them, then he would as well. 

“Likely stories. She could have just blasted the door if she wanted to try hard enough. I destroyed a snack machine that was preventing me from getting a deeeeeelllishous snack.” Zim said. “We both produced results.”

“But you destroyed Irk and made the fires worse!” Skoodge said. He had to try and talk some sense into Zim. 

“No, better.” Zim grabbed Skoodge by the hand and took him outside. “I am going to try and use Tak and Tenn’s TRAKs to find where they are and then do their jobs better so the Tallest will make me the head of this planet full of stink monkeys.”

“Are we just searching for minerals that Irk is running out of and trying to take resources?” Skoodge sighed.

“Same difference. “Zim said as he followed along the path Tak and Tenn took into the city. “They have got to be around here somewhere.”

Unfortunately for Tak and Tenn, Zim and Skoodge weren’t the only ones getting upset with them. Red had much of the same greedy desire to take Earth sooner and was getting annoyed that Tak and Tenn had not provided the information that they needed yet as well. However, instead of just putting on feeble disguises that any human would notice was not right, Red turned to Purple to get his thoughts on the matter. “Pur, we should be further along than we are right now, shouldn’t we?”

“We only landed here about a week ago.” Purple said. He was rather enjoying his time away from the chaos of the Empire and the snacks that he had brought along just for him and Red. Frankly, he was content with staying on Earth for the rest of their lives, or at least as long as the snacks held out, whichever came first and with as many snacks as Purple insisted on bringing for him and Red, it was hard to tell which one would come first. “Tak and Tenn will let us know what they find when they find it. I am guessing they haven’t found anything of any use yet.”

“Pur, there is a reason that despite their disgraced statuses I brought them along.” Red said rolling his eyes. 

“So they’ll die?” Purple asked as he opened a bag of chips. 

“Partially. I intended that for Skoodge and defiantly for Zim.” Red said. 

“If you want Zim dead so bad, why don’t you just kill him? You’re the Tallest and your word is law. His deeds are known all over the Empire and he drove Sizz-lorr insane. No one will say a thing if you just fucking killed him.” Purple explained. “I’ll do it if you don’t want to. But Zim is going to be a liability later on. And if he does die in this venture, it might not disgrace him but redeem him.”

“I’ll kill him myself if that does turn out to be the case. I’ll find some way to make sure that it is a disgraceful death too.” Red said. 

“I swear you must have something you owe that idiot.” Purple sighed.

“Moving on,” Red began. “Tak and Tenn have been out of the base a lot. They have been to centers of human knowledge.”

“Skoodge is monitoring the human’s broadcasts and their thing called the ‘internet’ which is a huge data exchange platform.” Purple added.

“Yeah and he’s been playing a game most of the time. I don’t think there is anything valuable in that game, so he’s wasting time. But if Tak and Tenn have something they haven’t wanted to show us, then it must be in their cabin.” Red said as he snapped his claws. “Come with me Purple, we are going to do a bunk inspection on those two.”

“Do we have to?” Purple moaned.

“Yes.” Red said. 

Meanwhile, at the Mall, Dib was walking around with Tak, holding her hand, nodding politely as Tenn wove a tale of being a socially awkward teenager where they used to live. How bullies held her back and in the chaos of moving, she decided to put off going to college until they got settled in at their new home. She then noticed a clothing store that she figured teenagers would shop at and ran inside. “Come on you two! We’ll find the perfect homecoming outfit here.” 

“Gadzooks?” Tak asked. 

“It’s a store that specializes in women’s clothing. Usually younger women, but I have seen women over the age of 30 come in here and teenagers and their mothers both buy things. I don’t know. I do remember one time while I was here, a woman who was 30 came out and got behind me at the Cousin Carla’s pretzel place go on a kind of rant to herself under her breath.” Dib paused. “Well she thought it was under her breath.”

“Really now?” Tak asked.

“Well this woman looked to be somewhat professional, like an accountant, tax professional, something boring like that. I wouldn’t have known her age if she didn’t say it.” Dib began.

“She said it?” Tak asked, noting that she could get more on how the human mind worked by the rants of this younger woman who had a hard time dealing with her own aging.”

“Yeah it was something along the lines of, ‘I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I am with isn’t it and what’s it seems weird and scary to me. I’m only 30 years old. I am not that old. I haven’t changed since high school and suddenly I’m uncool. I am looking for something that shows I am young but know my stuff and I didn’t raid my grandma’s closet. That’s all that there is for women my age. Look too old in stuff that is meant for people half my age but makes them look like skanks or clothes that detract from anything decent we still have. Just because I hit the 3-decade mark does not make me an old hag!’” Dib quoted.

“Did she say that to herself?” Tak said. “Sounds insecure and slightly unstable.”

“I think she was on the phone with someone or using an audio note program on the phone.” Dib said. “I had gotten my pretzel and left soon after that. I thought she was only 24 or 25, maybe 27 the most with how her glasses and long brown hair made her look.”

“Did you tell that to her?” Tenn asked as she popped up behind Dib with a deep purple dress with clear rhinestones on the front accentuating the bust line. “Here Tak, try this on.”

“Fine.” Tak sulked as she headed into the dressing room with the dress. “I suggest you answer Tenn’s question.” She said pointing to Dib.

“Huh?” Dib said as he turned to Tenn. 

“From your story, that woman was struggling with her personal aging. Why, couldn’t tell you. But we ladies like little compliments from men that make us feel better. Society makes a lot of money off us when we feel insecure. They find something and then make us feel like shit if we are not some impossible standard of whatever that women are made to be. To hear a real person say we are fine makes us feel better.” Tenn explained.

“No, I did not. I guess I should have. I didn’t think much of it at the time.” Dib sighed.

“Just some fyi for later Romeo.” Tenn smiled. 

Meanwhile, Red and Purple searched Tak and Tenn’s cabin to see what they had. Red had suspected something was hidden there that they didn’t want the Tallest to know about. Red knew their performance records and knew what they could do. What they were doing was not meeting those expectations. If he did find something, he’d talk about it with them later, but as for the moment right now, he was concerned with what was in the room. Purple had looked at Tenn’s bunk while Red had looked over Tak’s. So far, he had only found old homework assignments and Hi-Skool textbooks that showed themselves to be over 30 Earth years old. There has to be something here. Red thought as he moved the papers around on the bunk. “Find anything Pur?”

“This book is really interesting.” Purple said, reading one of Tenn’s choice romance novels from the library.

“Which one?” Red said turning to him, hoping his co-Tallest could be of some use.

“This one, ‘Alfred and Ivan: Cold War Intrigue.’” Purple skimmed along to what Tenn had told Tak was the good part. “God, is this how humans have spy duels? Sounds more like mating between two males.” 

“I don’t think that is how it actually is and not helpful. I mean we found that drawing faces on Pictonians got them to get away from the Irken Empire.” Red sighed as he found the laptop that Tenn had stolen. “This might be.” He said as he opened it up and found it still on the Membrane Labs employee log in page with Professor Membrane’s credentials still in the log in. Red then clicked on the ‘log in’ tab and smiled. “I think that Tak and Tenn deserve some honors. It appears this is the log in information for one of the human’s top research labs from what I can tell is here. I’m going to take this back to our computers to see if we can’t get in deeper.” 

“I’m taking this with me.” Purple said as he grabbed the romance novel and put it in a pocket on his Tallest robes. 

“Seriously?” Red said rolling his eyes. “Whatever. I can handle this information digging on my own.”

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I kind of put myself in that with the 30-year-old who cannot deal with age. I have started cross posting this and some of my other fics on AO3 as well, under the same penname if you wish to keep an eye over there. And if you are on AO3 reading this, look for me on fanfiction.net as well. Shameless self-promotion aside, remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

Otherrealmwriter

Aka

Realm.


	18. Chapter 18

I do not own Invader Zim okay? I know it’s been a little while on updating this, inspiration on this isn’t as strong as some of my other fics. I assure you though I will finish this. But anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Red clicked though the images on the laptop. He looked over it but couldn’t quite understand the language that it was in. This damned human language and apparently they have tons among themselves. Red thought as he turned on the Universal language translator he had in his PAK and looked over the words. So this is one of the top scientists on this planet. He thought as he looked through the documents and plans that were in the system. “Ancient crap.” Red said.

“Excuse me?” Purple said as he looked up from the romance novel he had swiped from Tenn’s bunk. “Why are you being so loud? I just got to the good part!”

“Okay I don’t want to know what you mean by ‘the good part’ with that book.” Red said as he looked at the cover of the book with disgust. “But these humans seem to be so much behind us.”

“Yeah and so? We conquered a planet full of slaughtering rat people. They didn’t even have a written language.” Purple shrugged. “Weren’t we here for the minerals anyway?”

“Well that’s what we told everyone. You do know shit was getting too intense back on Irk anyway.” Red moaned. “It was only a matter of time before we got attacked ourselves.”

Red kept searching the Membrane labs page, looking for something that would be his key. He was the more competent of the two Tallests anyway. He placed the laptop down on his desk and headed back to Tak and Tenn’s cabin. He moved more of the blankets and pillows and various other items the Irkens used around until he found a backpack that Tak had used when she went to the Hi-Skool. Tak why do you need this PAK when you can put things in yours? Red said as he shook the bag and the English Literature textbook fell on his face. “OOOOF!” He said as he furiously threw the book aside and then looked at it. This might be useful, at least a better read than that FILTH Purple seems to be fascinated with. He took the book back to his cabin and read where Tak had marked ‘Paradise Lost’.

“Ha! You like human literature too.” Purple said. “I may have to go to the library. Apparently, there are tons of novels like this out there and Tenn said you could just borrow them and give them back. Or it may be better to just order said books.”

“You mean, order, on a human website an item that they will have to deliver, TO OUR SECRET BASE?” Red said.

“Yeah….” Purple said as the realization of how bad an idea that was hit him. “But here I can order it from this store, and they can deliver it to the bookstore for me to pick up in the city. Or we can send someone to pick it up for me.” He smiled at the idea. “We didn’t flee Irk to hide in a dumb planet full of pig smelly humans.” He looked for the laptop he had placed aside and found Purple looking it over.

“Mine.” Red said.

“Wasn’t it something Tak and Tenn had found?” Purple corrected.

“I guess but I am the commander of this mission and a Tallest.” Red said annoyed. “You must have grown soft since we were last on actual missions ourselves. You do not spend your time when you should be making decisions that will affect the lives of millions upon billions upon trillions of beings in the galaxy.”

“I don’t think the Irken Empire has trillions under its control Red.” Purple said.

“We haven’t done a total Empire census for a while. I think Irk’s population was around 777 billion, both living on and off Irk and that is just the Irkens.”

“Okay you may have mixed entire Empire with Irk. There was only like 7.7 billion Irkens. And those are just Irkens, not the population of planets under Irken rule.” Purple stated. Red began to say something to contradict him, but he paused and counted on his claws, mumbling to himself, as if he were remembering numbers and making calculations.

“We’re both off slightly. According to the last census taken midway through Operation Impending Doom II, there were 7.7 billion Irkens yes 77 billion under Irken rule and up to and possibly exceeding 1 trillion if all the planets marked for conquest are taken. Which they will be. And another about 8 billion members of a sentient specie when we taken this.” Red said with a smirk.

“Seriously?” Purple asked. “And just how do you know all those numbers?”

“It’s part of my JOB AS TALLEST!” Red said as he turned the page and found where Tak had found an interesting passage. ‘Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven’. Red read the words aloud to himself over again. Opening the laptop, he found that there was search engines much like they had on Irk and matching the letters on the keyboard to the spellings of ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ he learned both were human concepts of the afterlife. Hell was punishment for all time, heaven great pleasure. Red smirked at this saying to himself more. He knew that if he went back to Irk, without a great victory and something of worth to the Empire, with the disgraced Irkens he had picked to be on this mission, he was going to be killed or even worse, disgraced. Then again, what if all of what is here is not good enough for those 7.7 billion idiots who don’t know how great I am and how powerful I am making the empire? He thought to himself. This Lucifer guy may be onto something. Humans are FAR behind most other species who have physical specifications like theirs. I mean there is a whole galaxy near ours of human looking species who have mastered cloning, living beyond burning, playing with light swords and hyperdrive, so it’s not like they can’t work with those things. And apparently Kaminoans can’t be talked into trying to use their technology to help us clone OUR own army. So, we had to stab Vort in the back. He turned to Purple and asked, “So what if instead of going back to Irk, we just take this planet, and bring them into the level of intelligence they need to be?”

“Just what do you mean?” Purple asked.

“We take Earth, make them have our technology.”

“Give an idioitic species our technology? You know how dumb that is?” Purple yelled as he threw the romance novel down on the ground. Seeing how it fell, he sulked. “And I lost my page.”

“You can finish that filth later.” Red said as he shoved away the novel and turned back to Purple. “But if there is something, I am reading from what Tak has written and form what books and such I can from themselves, humans are prone to the groupthink we need to exploit them all. Heck you don’t even need a PAK as they are good at pressuring themselves without needing actual control! And this place that Tak got us into their databases is perfect. It’s a highly respected lab. So, we just send one of our crew there as some new employee, get in there, fill them with our technology and then use them to take the planet.”

“What about the Organic sweep? That’s always so fun.” Purple said.

“Our situation on Irk is tenuous at best. We go back with just minerals and snack foods, we’re toast. And not good, buttered toast. Bad burnt to a crisp toast. We’re fucked.” Red said. “Better to rule in hell than serve in heaven.” Red said. 

“Well, who would we get to play the new employee?” Purple asked.

“Maybe me…. But I am taller than an average human. They get to be about 6 feet, the males, and that is some of the taller ones. That and I am the commander, the Tallest, that is beneath me.”

“How about me?” Purple said as Red laughed manically. “What’s so funny?”

“You?” Red grabbed his sides. “In a job like this? Seriously?” He fell on the floor rolling around.

“I get it.” Purple said.

“No, I just need you with me. So, you can do a very very good job of keeping me focused on the goal at hand. You are a capable Co-Tallest!” Red said, knowing just how to make Purple happy. “I’ll even send someone to get the snacks and weird books you like.”

“Okay, I’m not so mad about that.” Purple said. “What about Tenn?”

“Tenn….” Red tapped his claw to his face. Tak was acting like a Hi-Skool student. Tenn was just seen at the library all the time and had no real connections other than that she had a library card to access the knowledge that was stored there. “Skoodge and Zim are just too stupid for a job like this. Speaking of those imbiciles, where are they?” Red asked as Purple shrugged.

Once they had finished the shopping Tenn had made Tak and Dib do while they were at the mall, Dib offered to drive them home. “Oh no, you don’t need to do that! We can walk!” Tak quickly replied.

“I insist, it’s only fair.” Dib offered.

“But what about your sister?” Tenn asked. 

“She got her own ride home. She hates waiting and will get a ride from me home but will have me drive her if I am going to the same place she is.” Dib shrugged. “Whatever, I guess. But you guys walked all around the mall and I can’t imagine that coming here on foot was too good on your feet either. Especially those that Tenn are wearing.” Dib thought about it. “I can drive you to a bus stop closer to the edge of town. You did say that your dad was rather protective of you guys and your property.”

“That he is!” Tak said remembering her story. “So, I guess we’ll go to the bus stop and go from there. Thank you so much for your kindness.” She kissed Dib on the cheek. 

“If for some reason the bus doesn’t show up let me know.” Dib then handed a wad of bills from his pocket and placed it in Tak’s hands who looked up at him. “Because I want to help if you need faire money for the bus. Even if you don’t, I am not going to use it.” Tenn looked concerned as Tak started to object. “Dad leaves me A LOT of money. Thinks it will make up for his shitty absence of parenting.” He then kissed Tak on the forehead. “I promise I won’t ever turn out like him. I care about you Tak and I protect those I care about.”

“Well why did you let Gaz take a cab home?” Tenn asked as they got to Dib’s car.

“I have learned never to fight Gaz on her intentions. She can protect herself well.” Dib said. “But yeah, I’ll drive you to the bus stop closest your house and if you need me, call me.” Dib said as he shut the door and began to drive them to the other side of town.

Zim and Skoodge walked through the crowds of people in the city, pushing everyone aside, following the TRAK he had that had the locations of Tak and Tenn at the mall. It was a long walk, longer than Zim thought he should have to walk to the mall. As he looked at the dots, they went in reverse and then headed out of the area of the mall and to the main roads. They were traveling faster than if they were walking or even if they were running from an enemy and the dots stayed perfectly in their spots. “Something must be wrong with this thing.” Zim said as he threw the tracker at Skoodge’s feet.

“They stopped.” Skoodge said as he looked at it. “Right in front of us too. Over on that road.” He said as he pointed to the intersection across the street

Dib was having a lively conversation with Tak and Tenn as he waited for the light to change when he noticed Skoodge and Zim. Something doesn’t seem right with those guys…. He thought as Tenn began to speak when Tak put her hand on her mouth. “Don’t say a thing. Play it off like he does. Dib is an ally to us if we want to break free from Irk but he will kill us if we get into it with Zim and Skoodge. You know Zim will reveal the plan and Dib will defend this planet from aliens who mean him and the planet harm.” Tenn nodded in comprehension.

“Everything okay?” Dib asked. 

“Oh, Tenn can be quite silly and embarrassing around my friends and even more so with my boyfriend.” Tak said.

“Oh. I see why you would do that.” Dib said as the light changed.

“Hey Zim, where that car is where this thing says they are.” Skoodge said.

“No, it can’t be….” Zim said as he looked in the car and saw Dib, who looked at him with a cocked eye as if he knew there was something wrong with them that they weren’t human but all that Zim saw with him were two young ladies, one with long red hair in ponytails and one with short purple hair. They looked perfectly human. “This thing must be broken. That isn’t Tak and Tenn in there.”

“I don’t know, the TRAK readings are following that car.” Skoodge pointed out.

“Can’t hurt to follow it!” Zim said as he turned and began to run after the car. Not seeing he was keeping up; he activated the jet boosters on the PAK. “Keep up Skoodge!”

“We’ll be seen!” Skoodge pled as he followed Zim on foot! “We’ll blow the mission!”

“Does it look like I care! That human has captured Tak and Tenn.” Zim said.

“Oh, now you believe me….” Skoodge mumbled.

Tak turned around and gulped. Zim is going to fuck up everything! “I think we’re being followed!” She panicked as Tenn started hyperventilating in fear.

“Hang on girls.” Dib said. “I made some mods to this thing to get away from anything.” Dib said as he flipped open the cover on the transmission shifter and hit it. “We’ll be safe.”

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I can see Dib making modifications to his car when he gets one that would help him in his paranormal quests. He’s not dumb after all. I don’t know when I can update again. Work starting and I will be busy and all. Don’t know how much I will be able to write when I should be working because there is no work because there will be a lot. But in the meantime, remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

Otherrealmwriter

Aka

realm.


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